The Quest for a Lily
by FalterInMySteps
Summary: I have a great life. Except for my one itty-bitty problem. I'm in love with my best friend. And guess who my best friend is? Lily Potter, Harry Potter's daughter. And I'm terrified of Harry Potter. How do I go about expressing said love? I have no idea.
1. Because I Love his Daughter

**Disclaimer:** Last time I checked I wasn't J.K. Rowling. I just ain't rich enough.  
**A/N: **This story started purely because I had this wish to read Lily II stories and there are so few out there. So I took the initiative and started my own story. I will try my best to make it entertaining. I promise it will get longer and better after this intro chapter.

What is it that all good love stories must have? Stop it with the suggestions! This is my story and I will tell you what they must have. They have to have the perfect girl; one with long fiery red hair, brilliant and sparkly hazel eyes, this soft face with the perfect smile, and a fabulous body to boot. Sigh. What? Right. Right. I know, stop daydreaming. Where were we? Oh, yeah. The most important factor is that she must have the last name Potter.

Okay, I admit it. I may be describing only my particular love story, but that is why you are here reading my own private (and sometimes pervy …. joking, only joking …. mostly) thoughts. Where were we? Lily. Lily Potter. Lily Luna Potter. Sigh…………….. Daydreaming, I know. Anyway, back to my story. If you will remember it is the one with me in love with that Potter girl.

At this moment, you are probably sitting there with a hundred questions, give or take. Things like who are you, and why are you in love with her, and more importantly will this story ever start?! We will take this one at a time. First: Remus, Remus Longbottom, double oh nothin'. Second: please refer to the part where I describe what all love stories must have. Last: give it time, all intros are long and dull (have you never read a novel before?).

I will take this second's pause to apologize. I am random, scatterbrained, easily distracted. Can you tell? Well, if you want to read about me and my wonderful Lily flower then you will have to deal with it. I cannot and will not change. Why? Because my Lily loves me for me! At least I hope so. Back to it.

Right, well let's talk about me. I'm my second favorite subject. Bet you can bet what my first favorite is (hint, redhead with last name of Potter). My full name is Remus Frank Longbottom. My dad as you could probably have guessed is the famous, kind of, Neville Longbottom. I was born on March fifth, just three days before my beloved. I knew even in my mother's womb, Hannah Abbott for those curious, that I was destined to be with Lily and the man must be older. Not to mention taller, stronger, etc, etc. So I was like 'got to leave mum, got to be out before Lily,' (yes, I knew what her name would be). Anywho, I stand about five foot, eleven and fifteen sixteenths inches tall, weigh about one sixty, have short blonde hair, and pretty blue eyes, if Lily did say so herself (which she did). There you go. Enough info for a drivers license. If I was a muggle. Which, I am definitely not.

Now how did I fall in love with Lily, you may ask. It all started, as I explained, in my mother's womb. Okay, I give. I wasn't in love with her then (I didn't even know she existed). It really started because Lily and I are the best of friends. We are two peas in a pod. Close as a wino is to his bottle.

Lily and I have known each other for our entire lives. We played together as babies. Our mothers gave us baths together, ah just think about it. I know, very pervy. But we were, like, toddlers if you please. We didn't even know that there were differences between boys and girls. Onward! My dad and Lily's dad fought in the war together and are old pals, so they were (and still are) having all sorts of get togethers, meaning that from that early age I was very accustomed to the Potter and Weasley families. Lily and I grew up hanging out, with Hugo and some of the other Weasleys at times, and playing together. It was just natural that we became the bestest of friends.

I can't honestly say that anything too interesting happened to us before good ol' Hogwarts. We were young and free and didn't have a care in the world. The one thing that did develop when we were little, besides our friendship, was our love for quidditch. Now, if you must know, close to three-fourth of all Weasleys and Potters play quidditch. Epic tournaments would often start between different parts of the families. As for the Longbottoms, I'm the first to play quidditch for quite some time.

Then our letters came when we were eleven years old, bringing much excitement. And much worry. At least for me. See, although Lily may have been confident of getting into Gryffindor, I was not. Lily was a descendent of Weasleys and Potters, all of which had been in Gryffindor since, like, the dawn of time. Seriously, all of them were in Gryffindor: Bill and his children, Charlie (who I barely know because he is still working with dragons), Percy and his wife and children, George and Angelina and their children, Ron and Hermione and their children, and last Harry (hiss) and Ginny and their children. Excuse me while I take a breath. Okay, I'm good. It's just a lot. Give it one hundred years and the Weasleys and their relatives will rule the earth. Back to me; I was worried that I might not be in what I had grown up hearing as the best house at Hogwarts. True, my mother was in Hufflepuff and nobody bashed that or Ravenclaw, but I needed to be in the house with all my friends.

Well, as you could have guessed (it was rather predictable after all), I was sorted into Gryffindor with Lily, Hugo, and, surprisingly, Luna's girl Pixie. We became the next great foursome to walk the halls of Hogwarts. The four of us dabble in everything. We prank, we study, we laugh, we cry (except for me, I'm a man and men don't cry), we play sports (me and Lily are on the Gryffindor team), we do this, and we do that. Throughout four years of schooling we have been friends. Over four years, I have come to be closer and closer with Lily. At some point the evil puberty hit making us teens interested in the opposite sex. Wait while I giggle. Sex. He he. I am too immature for my own good (another thing my little Lily describes of me). Now, what puberty did was make me grow attracted to the girls of Hoggywarts and then starting late winter last year I began to see Lily as a girl. Like a good friend, I held in my feelings (ew, not manly): Emotions? (still no), how about simple thoughts? (yeah, that will do). Over the months my thoughts grew to love. Which brings us to now: the summer before our fifth year.

Wait! Hold your horses. The intro is not quite over. I would appreciate it if you will allow me to introduce one of the great agitators of my story. Harry Potter (hiss): the boy who lived, the chosen one, the savior of the wizarding world, head Auror, husband, father, blah, blah, blah. To me he is Mr. Potter: overprotective and adoring dad to my Lily. This is the man that keeps a stern watch over his precious little girl; making sure that no guy, besides me and relatives, gets within ten feet of her. Although as I have grown, I believe that Mr. Potter has kept a closer watch on me. And for good reason. Because I love his daughter.

**A/N:** There, chapter one is up. It is kind of short, but the chapters will get longer. I promise. Leave a review. They make the sky blue (and the world just wouldn't be the same with a green or red sky, now would it?).


	2. I Hate the Rain

**Disclaimer:** I am not, nor will ever be J.K. I just don't plan my stories out beforehand.  
**A/N:** First things first. I am so sorry, but Harry will not make an appearance in this chapter. I can promise (without anything crossed) he will be in the next chapter though. Secondly, I currently have ten chapters written (amounting to about 35,000 words) and will post about once a week until the chapters run out and then about every couple of weeks after that. Lastly, I hope you enjoy the chapter because I do. Okay, get to it.

When you live in England, you better be prepared for rain. And lots of it. Today was one of those dreary, cold, wet, boring, worthless rainy days. Like all days during the summer holidays, I flooed to the Potter household to spend time with my three friends. Why we used the Potter house as our meeting place is a mystery to me. It might have something to do with the fact that it is bordered by a forest that, rather conveniently, has a large clearing with a quidditch pitch set up in it. Or it could be that the Potter household is large, but not too large like a mansion. Maybe we just found it to be homey. Who knows, but for better or worse, that is where we hung out.

Now on this gloomy day, the four of us friends were inside doing nothing. This was my worst case scenario. Like the absolute worst. I can't help myself, I just go loony when stuck inside. It can be sunny and pleasant out and I have no trouble sitting inside. On the other hand, if it is mucky and pouring rain (one of the worst times to be outside, right?) then I go absolutely bonkers. I can't help it. Nothing should be allowed to force me to do anything, because it makes me want to rebel against it. I hate the rain. Totally, absolutely, positively hate it.

"So what now?" asked Pixie. We had just recently finished our tenth game of exploding snap. Before that we had thrilled ourselves to death with a chess competition. On this day we had also: played several muggle games (like battleship and monopoly), had a pillow fight, and played tag/ hide and go seek (when bored you often refer to those pointless activities of youth).

"How should I know," says I.

"We could … ah … yeah," added the oh-so inventive Hugo. I swear I don't know what we'd do without his fabulous ideas.

After a few minutes of silent nothing, my Lily came up with an idea. Not her best, but oh well. "We could play football in the rain," suggested she. Her face was all lit up due to her new and exciting idea, but of course her face always lit up at the prospect of disobeying her parent's wishes. That's my rebellious Lily. I admire her bravery. I could never stand up to either her mother or father.

Quick to agree with any idea my darling Lily came up with (the woman is always, and I mean absolutely always, right), I started nodding my head. I looked around at the other two. They also were nodding their heads in an accepting manner. I smiled. My Lily would get her way and that would make her happy. Anything that pleased Lily, made me a happy man.

Now you might ask why going outside would be considered a disobedience. Well it really all comes down to the fact that Mr. And Mrs. Potter would not appreciate our getting wet and muddy and catching our death. Bugger for parents. Always ruining the fun. But we were too old now (although a mere fifteen) to not do what we wished. Right?

Wrong. "You four get back to playing somewhere upstairs. I will not have you tromping around in the pouring rain like a bunch of homeless lunatics," yelled Mrs. Potter to us. "And don't let me catch you sneaking out Lily Luna or there will be hell to pay."

Ah, good old (young, I meant young) Ginny. Where Mr. Potter will avoid using any curse words around his children, even grown up James, Mrs. Potter (who allows me to call her Ginny sometimes) has steadily grown more accustomed to using those minor expletive's around us as we have grown. Not following the stereotypes very well are they? But hey that's Mr. Potter (Harry, gasp, refuses to let me call him by his first name. I guess it just doesn't show the kind of respect a man like him expects from a boy close to his daughter) for you.

"So what do we do now?" groaned Hugo, obviously using that annoying attention span that is almost as short as mine.

Lily grinned. Now this grin was not the perfect smile that she uses when she laughs and thus makes me giddy inside. Nor was it her consoling smile. And it most definitely wasn't her general smile, used for most occasions. No, this was the smile I dread. It sends shivers down my spine and makes me nauseous. Unfortunately, it is also one of her smiles, which means that I can't refuse it because it won't let me say no to her.

"No," I said forcefully (now where in the heck did that come from?). "Lily I can't be grounded again. Last time that," add the air quotes, "idea smile spread across your," incredibly angelic (we'll just keep that to ourselves), "face I was grounded for three days." It was horrible. Three days would have been bad enough without Lily, but her family had decided to go on a two day trip (without me, now what is that crap?), leaving me lonely and dare I say it, pining for her. Now don't you laugh or shake your head! I am not pathetic (okay, not really pathetic?).

Whatever you do Lily please don't get your pout on. I can not take it when you pout. It's just so bloody cute. The bottom lip comes up so adorably. And then you (uh oh, here it comes) get that voice that touches my insides and makes me feel guilty. Don't say the words, please, I can't take it when you say…

"Come on Remmie, please." Bugger for her. I can't take it, but must fight on. Must say no. Fight it! Be a man!

"No, Lily," I said just glad that my voice didn't squeak. Phew. Got through that one. I managed it. I said … Yikes (no, as you plainly read I said no, but Lily is about to employ her most dangerous weapon). The danger signs are all there: the pout is still on her face and her head is tilting up. Not the puppy dog eyes!!!

"Okay," Dang nab it. Where did that come from? The puppy dog eyes broke me again (of course I can't feel too bad because the only person I have seen stand the fire of those eyes is Mrs. Potter. Not even Mr. Potter can make it through them). Well, maybe it won't end up that bad. It can't possibly end up being that bad, can it?

Of course it can!! Watch out fool, you're walking into a Lily death trap. Run away while you still have the chance. Ha. Like that would ever happen.

"So what now?" asked Pixie of Lily. Pixie had an excitement in her face that only trouble and adventure (the two go hand in hand) could activate. Pixie was not a whole lot like her mother. Where Luna can achieve an expression of blasé like no one else, Pixie's face always shows expression. I must assume that this is a natural gift and not genetics. I mean I have met her father also and a duller man there could not be.

"Now we escape this dungeon, this prison that my parents call a home. We escape out into that great outdoors where the wonderful thing called freedom awaits us," Lily finished grandly, waving her arms about theatrically. Despite the feeling in the pit of my stomach, I found myself swayed by her speech and willing to follow her outside (and to my death by grounding).

Hugo also had that look of anticipation on his face (what is with us, we're only going to play football?). "Window or door, oh queen Lily?" asked he. Lily (being the slightly bossy person she is) demands that Hugo call her queen when she comes up with a 'great' idea.

"We shall take the window route, peasant," she said straitening herself up and strutting towards her bedroom window. We followed and after getting the ball and making a bed sheet rope we climbed outside. "Yes," yelled Lily in glee once firmly (kind of, it was really muddy) on the ground. I followed and stared at her as she got soaked through in seconds. In my personal opinion she looked extremely sexy like that. Her clothes hung to her minute frame (truthfully she wasn't that small as she was only four and a half inches shorter than me. She was on the other hand rather thin, but like any girl don't mention weight around her. Not fun. On a side note, despite looking so fragile, I wouldn't ever want to take her on in a fight. It's called being feisty and truthfully I am rather frightened of it). Along with her clothes, her hair was plastered to her face, framing it. Damn I love her.

"Who has the ball?" I asked, pulling my gaze away from Lily with a shake of my head. Seeing Hugo with it, I ran over to him and talked him straight into a puddle for it. "Lily catch."

My pass went haywire when Hugo grabbed me from behind, dragging me back down into the mud. Pixie ran for the ball, her hair billowing out behind her (how she gets her hair to resist and repel the rain is beyond me. It's almost like magic. Ha. Magic, as if). Lily and Pixie reached the ball simultaneously, colliding in a flurry as they fought for the ball. My Lily (remember her feistiness?) came out on top and kicked the ball back in my direction. What we had originally intended to be a game of football turned quickly into a match of keep away (me and Lily versus Hugo and Pixie).

Lily and I were the king and queen of keep away; absolute masterminds honed from years of practice. Pixie and Hugo never really had a chance in a thousand against us. Thus after a depressingly short amount of time they got disgruntled and wanted to play something else. Our next choice in game was called five hundred (aka: one thousand, one hundred, and pretty much any large number you can think of. I once played a game of ten thousand nine hundred and fifty three. Of course this was because we made the unintelligent decision of letting James pick the number). For any that might have the misfortune of not knowing five hundred here it is: one person calls out a number and throws/kicks a ball towards the other players. The first person to get the ball gets the points and the first person to reach a set amount (five hundred) wins the round.

Now it is this simple little game that led to the greatest moment in my life up to that point. Curiosity getting the better of you? Well this is how it went down. We were on our third match and Hugo was doing the throwing/kicking (you can never know with Hugo). Lily and I were tied in points and being the competitive souls that we are, we were ready to fight tooth and nail (Lily has longer, nails I mean. I have been on the receiving end of those. Ouch) for the next ball. Hugo gave a huge kick, sending the ball between the three of us and causing us to rush towards it. Suddenly, BAM. Lily and I collided; me falling backwards into the mud and Lily falling on top of me (at least she got to remain out of the mud).

No, that was not why it was awesome. What made that moment fantabulous was the fact that Lily landed (gracefully and like a lady of course. In my dreams! Really, that has happened in my dreams, give or take a few details) face down on me and … wait for it … her lips (so soft and wet; it was raining out remember) pressed against mine. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a kiss and yes I am very well aware of what a kiss is like (I have had a few good snogs in my time). It was just simply her lips (and body) pressed against me.

If I wanted to recount this moment accurately (and I do) then I would have to tell you that I was rather startled (not to mention out of breath). My brain was so crammed with messages that I couldn't think. It was like I was stupefied. The first thing I recall thinking when my brain restarted was who's got the ball. It wasn't until a second later that I realized the predicament of how Lily was laying on top of me (the position was kind of awkward. And may I take a second to say Yeah! It's like my dreams have come true, kind of). She seemed to be coming to the same realization at the same time as me. Thus, before I actually had a chance to enjoy her being so close, she started to push herself off me and brought her mouth away from mine. I almost pulled her back down to me to give her a real kiss, but managed to stop myself just in time (I had to go and remember that I was just her friend: humph!).

"Remus you clumsy nut, you let Pixie get the ball," scolded Lily as she slapped the back of my head. Ah Lily doesn't let anything phase her. Alright, she might have been blushing, if I had thought her capable of blushing. But no, my hope is for nothing because she didn't seem to care how we had just been situated.

"Awwww. How cute. Lily and Remmie share their first kiss," came Pixie's voice, penetrating the rain.

Hugo's childish tones followed with a round of "Remus and Lily sitting in a tree. K. I. S. S. I. N. G."

"Very mature guys. Take advantage of an embarrassing situation," shouted Lily, not looking embarrassed at all.

All I could manage was a loud, "Yeah!" Obviously I was still a little dazed (or dim witted... Nah).

"Embarrassing? No, embarrassing would be us walking in on you two shedding your clothes. This is just funny," said Pixie smirking.

"Mental images," groaned Hugo. "Bad pictures. Pix, I don't need to think about my cousin like that. Please don't mention that again."

Pixie just laughed at him. I mean seriously. There is no reason to head down that lane. If I wanted to make a fool of myself in front of Lily, I could just try walking. I don't need to have me and Lily taking off our clothes on my mind. Very dangerous. Very easy for me to say something wrong.

"Oh come on Pixie. You would never see us in such a situation," responded Lily. Thanks Lily (don't miss the sarcasm).

"Well whatever. That matters little, 'cause I won!" Pixie seemed extremely pleased with this, due to the fact that she started doing a little victory dance and chanting a little song that had the words 'I won' and 'you lost' with amazing regularity. I turned my head to Hugo in order to share a glance that involved the rolling of eyes, but found him staring reverently at Pixie. A smirk crossed my lips at this point. I may be no matchmaker (that would be Lily. Just think of all the breakups that have happened because of her), but I believe Hugo and Pixie to be something of a perfect match. Kind of like me and Lily, except me and Lily are so filled with perfectness that no other couple could come close. Anyway, back to Hugo's staring. It really looked like he fancied her. So much so that he might just go over and snog her senseless right now (I will give him credit. Pix did look good with her hair shimmering and her face so gleeful). Ahhh, I guess only me and Lily were meant to share a (kind of) kiss tonight…

Holy cow. Holy mackerel. Holy termite! (Now seriously what is with the Holy animals and umm bug?) I cannot believe that I predicted something for the first time in my life. Watch out seers here I come. Now just because you are wondering, or you have already figured it out and are waiting, I will tell you, with details, what happened. Hugo just walked over to Pixie (mind you he slipped and almost fell in the mud twice) annnnd … kissed her. Not lying. She was just jumping around and he grabbed her, turned her around, and brought his lips down to hers. And she kissed back, bringing him closer. It was like that movie I once saw (except for the slipping). I wish I could have his determination.

Harry Potter.

Damn, that man is always ruining my mood. Why does his face always come to mind when I think about Lily? Oh well, I got an almost kiss tonight. I guess that will have to be good enough. And to think, it was all because of the mud. I love the rain. Absolutely, positively, absutively love it.

"Lillian Luna Potter! Get your wet ass in this house right now! And bring those friends with you!" that would be Mrs. Potter. Not good. I hate the rain.

**A/N:** Hope you liked it. Things seem to be happening pretty fast. Can't promise they will stay fast, I can just hope I can keep it interesting. Please review. Reviews are currently in shortage and therefore the real reason for the rising gas prices.  
--Chris


	3. Going to Get Butterbeers

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Harry Potter Universe due to the fact that I'm not a female genius.  
**A/N:** Well this chapter is up a little later than I wanted, but is a little longer to make up for it. This story is just so fun to write and hopefully read. So get to it.

He was just standing there, his face all smug and, and disappointed. There was the man I hat… ahem … dislike greatly. Hands on hips, eyes squinted, and mouth in a frown. But I could see through that façade. I knew that he wasn't angry, he was annoyed. It was the same look that my father got every time my mother made him deal with my 'ineptness' as my mother says. I don't truly know what she means by that, I don't think even she realizes (disobedience would work better than a word that means incompetence, right? I, at least, consider myself competent).

Anyway, there he stood, being forced by his wife to punish us hooligans because she was sick and tired ('and tired' I've found always follows sick) of dealing with us herself. In other words she didn't want to fight her daughter alone. Now I find that a man being watched over by his better half leads to a dangerous situation. He is very likely to do something wrong in the eyes of the boss and therefore make her angrier and willing to deal out harsher punishments.

Needless to say, I was kind of frightened. I was also extremely disappointed in my predicting abilities; not because I wasn't able to predict something, but because I was able to predict this horrible situation. Why, oh why did I have to give in to Lily? I just knew that we would get into massive trouble. And as I have said, I don't deal with grounding very well. It means I can't see Lily.

Maybe I was also frightened because of the man standing in front of me. I'll admit it (again), I am very frightened of Mr. Potter. All that was running through my brain was what would happen to me if he found out I 'almost kissed' his daughter. I heard the last guy to try was sent to a maximum security cell in Azkaban (Mr. Potter is Head Auror and can command that). I don't think my father would let me go to prison, but that still doesn't make me less scared. Must not let him find out!

Mrs. Potter cleared her throat loudly when the silence and staring continued. Mr. Potter looked like he was about to speak when Lily did first. "Daddy," she said in her cutest, most pleading voice. It was a tone that most clearly said 'please don't be mad'.

"Why did you go out into the rain, Lily?" said Mr. Potter in that disappointed manner reserved for fathers that want to make their children feel guilty. I flinched. Mr. Potter not only used the evil tone, but he also call my Lily by her name (he never calls Lily, Lily. He always uses a term of endearment like baby, honey, or most of the time princess).

Lily looked down in shame (what an actress). "We were just bored, Daddy. There was nothing left to do."

"Why did you go despite the fact that your mother said no?" he continued.

"It just looked so fun," she said before looking up with the sad puppy dog eyes. "I'm really sorry Daddy. I made a bad decision. Please forgive me."

Mr. Potter looked torn. His daughter had just given him the puppy dog eyes along with an apology. What to do? Or more likely, who to side with: the adorable daughter or the love of your life which includes certain nightly benefits (did I just think that? Nasty! Memo to self: never mention such thoughts to Lily. I do not need to be beat into a pulp).

"It's okay, princess," (ha! Back to his usual name for Lily. The puppy dog eyes get us every time. I don't know how she does it). "Just make sure to not disobey your mother again."

"Harry!" Ginny was obviously furious. I would not be surprised if fire shot from her eye sockets. "What are you doing?"

"She said she was sorry and I forgive her," he replied calmly.

"Your daughter has you wrapped around her pinky finger! She is not sorry, she is just playing you." Mrs. Potter countered fiercely.

"That is enough!" said Mr. Potter, his own temper showing at these most recent words. "They were bored and just children. I'll let them off this once."

Ginny was seething, but seemed unable to decide what to do. Apparently this situation was partly her fault because she was the one to call her husband down. He was going to let us off and she wasn't going to be able to change it. I really do marvel at Lily's abilities. She managed to convince her father to let us off the hook. We were free! Well, mostly free; Mrs. Potter was still angry with us, so we would have to behave, but we didn't get into trouble.

I felt a tug on my arm. Lily was pulling me towards the direction of the stairs. She probably had the right idea. Mr. and Mrs. Potter were staring each other down and it would probably be best to escape. It was getting late by now, almost ten o'clock. On any normal day this would mean me flooing back to my house, but tonight was a sleep over.

A sleep over with the four of us could mean one of many things. There were enough spare bedrooms in the Potter house to easily accommodate the three extra people. Or sometimes Hugo and I slept in a room while Lily and Pixie slept in Lily's room. Also we had spent nights where all four of us slept in the same room (never Lily's room. I have never had the pleasure of sleeping in Lily's room. I bet you can guess why. Hint: her father.) Tonight we had planned to be one of those magical nights were we were all in the same room.

Earlier in the day we had set up a huge tent in the common room on the second floor of the house. Three fourth of the sheets the Potters owned and ninety percent of their blankets had gone into the making of this elaborate tent. We had moved furniture from other parts of the house to allow for separate rooms in our tent. Each one of us had a separate sleeping area. There was an entrance room and a middle sitting room. The tent averaged about four feet high (not all furniture is the same height you know). I was actually really proud of our accomplishment as it took us only two hours to build.

"Your dad is frickin' amazing Lils," said Pixie as we climbed the stairs.

"Totally the bomb," added Hugo patting Lily on the back as we reached the landing to the second floor. "Uncle Harry is so cool."

We turned into the second door on the left marveling at our creation. "I do believe that this is by far our best tent yet," commented I. "So what shall we do now?"

Pixie grinned evilly while looking at us others. "What about a little truth or dare before bed, mis amigos?"

Hugo smirked at Pixie (oooh, I so know what is on his dirty little mind). Lily looked thoughtful. I made my face become blank. We had played plenty of truth or dare in the past, leading to some very nasty truths to be yet unveiled. But despite that, it was still very much a fun game. Some of our best pranks had come from a game of truth or dare late into the night (I don't know about you, but I find that people become kind of goofy at two in the morning, even without the help of alcohol).

"As long as I go first," says I.

"Yippee," squealed Pixie. "Come on, let's get in the tent."

"Guys," said Lily. "I don't mean to spoil the fun, but we are still wet and muddy. Shouldn't we change? Plus, my hair is ruined. It needs to be fixed." She ran her hands through her hair with a dramatic flourish. We laughed. Lily didn't care about how she looked, especially around friends (and seeing as how nothing could subtract from her beauty, except maybe an inconveniently placed hickey, a little muddy hair didn't matter to me).

Us others grumbled our acceptance to this fact and we made our way up the stairs again, this time to the bedrooms. If there was one word I would use to describe the many bedrooms of the Potter household it would have to be spacious. I'm serious; they are huge (with bathrooms and walk-in closets attached to each). They also all looked different; my favorite was the muggle themed one (it was just interesting with all the posters and trinkets and red painted walls. They say never paint walls red, but it just works in this room.)

Therefore when we separated to our individual rooms, I went to the one way at the end of the hall and on the right side (to be perfectly honest, another reason I liked the room was that it was right across from Lily's room). I quickly dried myself off and threw on some pajamas before skipping across the hall and into Lily's open room.

Lily's room was a slight mystery to me. Although her favorite color is blue (mine too, except different shades) her walls were painted pink. Sure she had normal things in her room like posters of quidditch and pictures of her family and friends (like me!). But on the other hand Lily had odd things like a muggle TV and countless books (not only are books icky, but the Potters have a library; so why keep some in your room?).

"Lilykins," I called to the empty room. "Where art thou?" This was more or less a rhetorical question due to the fact that light was coming from the bathroom and I could hear water running. I finished my skipping as I reached the bed and sat down on it (waterbed!! They are so fun, but another thing to add to the list of odd things about her room).

"I'm right here you idiot," Lily yelled from the bathroom. She walked out and into the bedroom pulling a brush through her flaming hair and rolled her eyes at me. Unfortunately (or possibly fortunately?) I did not see the eye roll due to the fact that my Lily was not wearing a shirt. Bloody Hell. For the second time that day my mind went totally blank on me.

And then: frick. Frickity frick. That was all I could think. You want to know why? Harry Potter came to mind again and here I was with his daughter who was only wearing a bra (and pants of course). My Lily was very, very fit and she had decent mammary growth to boot. I can't believe she is standing before me with only her bra on! How could she. It's like she was inviting unclean thoughts to start a party in my head.

Alright I give in! This may be my first time seeing her in a bra, but it was not new territory. What do you think a bikini is? Swimming was still an acceptable pastime and Lily always wore bikinis. But in my defense, the bra had more lace on it. And men (remember I am a man) apparently go bonkers for frilly things. Especially when they are accompanied by a body.

It is a good thing Lily can't do Legilimency. She has apparently inherited her father's skills in controlling the mind because in the few times we have practiced legilimency and occlumency she sucked. On the other hand it's got to be pretty obvious that I'm gaping at her. Control body! Look away! Come on mind don't fail me now.

"Remus?" asked Lily. Apparently she has not yet noticed my staring (probably due to my darting eyes. Yes, I did manage to pull my eyes away from her half-nakedness). Phew. That was a close one. Lily would have severely injured me if I was caught perving on her.

Want to know my brilliant answer? It is truly unique and insightful. "You're not wearing a shirt," I pointed out. See, told you so. Very imaginative. As if.

"No shit Sherlock," said Lily in mock gasp, putting her right hand over her mouth. "How do you ever come by these observations?"

I crossed my arms and pouted in response.

"Oh come on you big baby. Grow up and you too can wear big boy pants," more mocking came from Lily's mouth.

"I prefer boxers," I mumbled.

"What. You mean the ones with little hearts on them?" what a sadistic grin that girl has.

"No!" I said loudly. "Those were to be never brought up again. You promised!" That was a very humiliating moment in my life and so therefore you will not hear about it.

"My fingers were crossed," she said. Then, for no reason, we started laughing.

"So, you almost ready? I'm sure we will have to pull Pix and Hugo apart in order to reach the tent. Their kiss earlier was so romantic. What with the rain and his pulling her into his arms."

"I tell you what Rem. You are way too much of a poof for you own good."

"I'm not that girly and I totally dig girls. If you want proof just bring that sexy body this way," I said with a huge smirk to show that I was joking (although I was secretly hoping that she would want lots of proof). "Are you good to go yet?"

"Alright. Alright. Hold your horses. I just need to throw a shirt on. Apparently it's the opposite of what you want, though," she replied with a waggling of the eyebrows.

"I swear I can't leave you two alone for two seconds. First that snog in the rain and now the removing of clothes. What ever am I suppose to do with you horny teenagers?" Pixies voice came through the doorway as she followed with Hugo's arm around her waist.

There was a collective (and somehow very loud) eye roll from Lily, Hugo, and myself. Pixie was something of a hypocrite tonight, I believe. Not to say that she wasn't normally, but anyway… I mean look who's talking. Snogs in the rain and a bit of lipstick (I wasn't even aware that Pix wore lipstick) on Hugo's face. Speak of horny teenagers. Humph.

"I wasn't aware you dressed in drag Hugo," said Lily.

"Wha-?" replied Hugo

I smirked and finished Lily's thoughts for her, "she means that you really do like wearing lipstick, but are an armature at putting it on. You've not only failed to cover your lips properly, but you somehow got a little on your cheek." I pointed at my own cheek to show him where the offending splotch was.

Both Hugo and (surprisingly) Pixie blushed. Lily and I high fived. We walked past Hugo and Pixie towards the stairs. Back down to the tent it was and once there a game of Truth or Dare (Hehe. I rhymed: there dare. It's a gift). "Are you two coming?" called Lily behind her. "I hope you realize my dad put sensory charms around my room. Get anywhere close to shagging and my dad comes running."

Pixie and Hugo (free of lipstick) caught up to us and I went into a brief deep thought. This night was turning out fricking amazing. I mean think it over. Playing in the rain and mud: very fun (of course it's really all about getting wet and dirty). Then Lils falling on me and our (sigh) almost kiss. Mr. Potter comes to our rescue and we don't get in trouble. Then I get to see Lily without a shirt. It's like a dream. Uh Oh. It is a dream isn't it? Got to check; just to make sure. What is it people do to make sure their awake? Pinch! That's right. They pinch themselves.

Let's see. Find a nice spot on arm. Okay pinch away (more rhyming. I am getting good. Right). "Ouch!"

"What?" came the replies.

"I pinched myself."

"Ooookay," said Hugo.

"You are way too weird Remus," said Pixie.

We reached the landing for the second floor and the others turned to head to our tent room. I, for some reason, felt thirsty so continued down to the kitchen to get a Butterbeer (non-alcoholic of course. Did you know it came in alcoholic? Must raid the liqueur cabinet sometime). That is, I went down only after assuring the others that I would get them a Butterbeer also.

Just for your information, I tend to bore quite easily and so therefore start counting steps when I walk down them alone. I once walked up a Hogwarts staircase that had three hundred and fifty-seven steps without a landing. Back to the house. I was on step number eleven and fantasizing about Lily without her shirt on when I ran into (literally, I was looking down) Mr. Potter. Bollocks. Mr. Potter can read minds; hide all thoughts of Lily quick. I swear that man is always causing me distress.

"Remus," he grunted at me (is it just me or does he sound angry and accusing). I was so totally freaking out at that point.

"They were accidents!" I blurted out, practically quivering in my Quidditch slippers. "I didn't mean them to happen, honestly. Please don't crucio me and sell me to the werewolves like the first boy." (That would be the rumor of what happened to Lily's first boyfriend.)

"What?" Mr. Potter now looked to me to be furious (and oddly puzzled. Why would he be puzzled?).

"I swear the kiss meant nothing to me. Well that's not true, I loved every second of it; BUT it's not like it was even a real kiss right? Falling rather awkwardly and having lips pressed together doesn't count as a kiss right? Honest to Merlin, it was completely by chance that we fell like that; I mean close to one and a billion, right?" this was very, very, very bad. I was rambling like a crazy person (which I am not! Most of the time). "Then the shirt debacle. I mean how could I have stopped your daughter from walking into her room without a shirt. I had clearly made myself known. What was I supposed to do? Totally not my fault at all. Of course she was still wearing a bra, so that isn't the same right? It's not like I saw anything but a bra. And a nice red lacy bra it was too. I do love the color red and lace is very tantalizingly see-through."

Shit. Did I just describe what his daughter's bra looks like to him? Damn. Frick. I am going to die tonight. He's going to go straight past the give him a trial stage and right to the capital punishment stage. Good bye oh wonderful life. Better make my last statements (aka: a continuation of the rambling). "I hope you realize that I had no control over these situations. I mean I'm so glad to have been a part of them; I have dreamt of kissing Lily for, like, a year now and what teenage boy wouldn't be glad to see a girl in a bra? Not that I was perving on her or anything like that. I would never glare at Lily. There will be more than enough time to see her without clothes when we are married. I love her so much and it's only because I have no true courage, okay and maybe because she doesn't like me like that, that I haven't asked her out. I have nothing but the utmost respect for her wishes. Please don't kill me."

I guess I had to end on that note (I needed to plead for my life sometime). I might also have ended my speech then because I was out of breath. I don't think I have ever talked so fast in my entire life. Find hope! Maybe Mr. Potter didn't manage to comprehend a word I said. Yeah. Right. As if.

"What in the name of Merlin's saggy left… Ahem," I have to say, Mr. Potter sounded very confused (hence the almost using of a vulgar phrase). "Am I to understand, Remus, that you have kissed my daughter _and_ seen her half-naked tonight?"

I'll tell you what. Hope is a one hundred percent lost cause. I looked down to the floor as I nodded a yes to Mr. Potter's question. It would be very scary to have to look at him at that point. I wonder if he has his wand. Avada Kedavra is a much less painful way to die than getting beaten to death.

"Am I also to understand that you have admitted to loving my daughter?" he asked quietly.

More nodding on my part.

"Well then. I have some advice for you to ponder." Does this mean he isn't going to kill me? And the hope returns. "Don't be afraid to chase after the impossible. Life isn't interesting if you let everything pass you by. And you will come to learn that the impossible is often possible."

I just stared at Mr. Potter's face in shock. Was he telling me to go after his daughter?

"Oh and another thing. If your eyes come close to seeing Lily naked again, I would watch your back because I will be there and it won't be pretty," then my sworn enemy smiled at me. It was an odd smile: showing happiness, but also threat. This man meant what he said. "Good night Remus."

What an odd encounter. I just admitted to doing some things very wrong in the eyes of a father and what did he do? Give me advice? What on earth? I'll have to think about that when I get back to the tent.

Let's see. What am I here for? Butterbeers. That's right. Going to get Butterbeers.

**A/N:** Chapter three up!! Please review. Reviews unfortunantly don't grow on trees, so it's up to you to make them for me.


	4. What A Night

**Disclaimer:** I am an aspiring writer, not an already famous one (like JKR for instance who owns the Harry Potter world).  
**A/N:** Finals are over!!!! (I just had to comment on that). I would like to thank my reviewers who tend to make my day when they do what they do. But you don't want to listen to me: So get to it!

As I walked back up the stairs I couldn't help thinking about the deeper questions of the universe. Questions such as: will there ever be such a thing as world peace, what is the nature of the human soul, and if you took infinity, divided it by 3000, then multiplied it by 250 and added 746, what would you get? Oh, and of course the most important question of them all: does Harry Potter approve of me being with his daughter (romantically, not friend like. He already allows that)? I reached the second floor landing and started walking down the hallway when the sound of stampeding bulls (more commonly referred to as Lily) came towards me from the stairs.

I turned around to face the love of my life (although I was secretly shaking in my socks because she looked pissed).

"Ooof," I grunted as I dropped the Butterbeers and fell to the floor. She punched me! In the face. What in Merlin's name could I have possibly done? I've been slapped by her before, but she put her full weight into that punch. A punch! How unladylike.

"HOW COULD YOU!" she screamed at me (I am so in for it now). "GET BACK UP."

I got back to my feet, massaging my jaw where it was hit. I swear that girl can throw a punch. Uh oh. "Ooof," I grunted again finding myself back in the same position on the floor. Damn that hurts. This time I resolved to maintain my spot on the floor instead of picking myself back up (it was a comfortable enough patch of carpet).

"Get back up," Lily said to me again; her voice between yelling and a normal volume.

"Huh uh," I mumbled shaking my head.

Lily's eyeballs practically popped out of her head at my refusal to do her will (truthfully this didn't happen often. I have a hard time not obeying her. I'll be such a good husband). Her breathing was ragged and her hands were on her hips. I've seen Ginny look at Mr. Potter like that a couple of times and both times he cowered in fear and did her exact will. Lily has obviously inherited her mother's ability to strike the utmost fear into the men of her life. Her next pronouncement was said in a very dangerous sounding hiss, "What do you mean no?!"

Needless to say I flinched. Bad. I was also at a loss for words. What would you do in a situation like this? I didn't even have a clue as to what my offence was. Lily was being just downright scary. Like the conniption, I'm going to tear your head off, headed into the forbidden forest, clowns kind of scary (and yes, clowns are extremely frightening). If I had been on my feet, then I would have ran in the opposite direction as fast as my feet could carry me. Unfortunately that would require doing the exact thing that Lily wanted me to do and I had already classified that to be a potentially nose breaking situation.

At that moment Pixie walked out with a curious expression. She also looked a little bit flustered with her hair ruffled and shirt twisted up a little bit. Can you say serious snogging? I swear if this wasn't such a tense moment I would have cracked a joke (that would be how many times today?). Somebody better do something about those two or else they'll be risking pregnancy (just add the wink and the 'if you know what I mean'). "What's goin' on?" she asked looking from Lily to me. I'm saved! Pixie, my hero, coming to rescue me from the big bad Lily.

"Nothing Pix. Why don't you go back in and we'll be right after you?" said Lily with a fake smile.

"Oh. Okay," replied Pixie looking back at me with concerned eyes. No! I'm done for. Don't go Pixie. Don't leave me here with _her._

Pixie turned around and started to walk back towards our tent room. "No!" I called after her. I rolled over and started to quickly crawl after her, eventually catching up. Once to Pix I grabbed her around the legs holding tight as if she could protect me. She looked down at me pityingly and shook her head. She couldn't have been more clear: she wanted to help, but wouldn't get on the wrong side of Lily in order to do so (Lily's bad side is called a bad side for a reason).

"Remus Frank Longbottom get your frickin' ass back here this instant," said Lily menacingly, but at least in a normal volume. When I look back I am ashamed to say that I actually whimpered while crawling back to Lily, looking down all the way. I fancy myself to be a pretty brave person (I am in Gryffindor for a reason), but heading towards Lily scared the crap out of me. It was like heading to the gallows.

"How could you Remus?" she said when I was in front of her. "How dare you?"

Still at a loss for what I had done I played stupid, "what did I do?"

She huffed at me. "You don't remember having that little chat with my father a quarter of an hour ago?" she laughed maniacally. "I find that hard to believe. Even for your small brain."

I felt like I was about to puke. He told her. Oh Merlin this is bad. And embarrassing. Now she knows that I love her and want to kiss her and want to … ahem … do other things with her. Not that I think her father would have told her that. The last part is just inferred. And … damn. Did I actually tell her father about what happened today?

"Oh yeah," she said. "I see it's all comin' back now. How you basically told him I was a slag that wants nothing more than to get some from every boy I come across."

This was new information. I never told Mr. Potter anything of the sort and my reply echoed my confusion. "What?"

"Okay, so maybe you didn't tell him that, but how could you Remus?" she repeated the last question again. Then she seemed to regain her anger. "I just got the sex talk from my father, Remus! You told him that I removed my shirt in front of you! You know my father, any father. Why would you say something like that?"

"I … I …" was all I could stammer. How could I tell her that I'm so frightened of her father that I just blurted the things out? Relief was also rushing over me at the fact that it didn't seem like her father had told her all that I had said to him. Phew. She still doesn't know that I like her. That was a close one.

"Well …?" she asked. "What made you tell him that? Are you so embarrassed to see me without a shirt that you couldn't hold it in? So are you actually gay? I always thought you were just randomly girly. What normal boy would go to a girl's dad to stop her from stripping in front of him?"

"I am not Gay!" I quickly defended my preferences. I also made a quick and very powerful mental note to act more macho around Lily (can't have my sexuality come into question again).

"Well then why did you tell him?"

"I … I …" I stammered again, still not knowing what to say. Instead of asking again, Lily stared me down with a ferocious look crossing her features. I finally cowered in fear and blurted out an answer, "I was terrified of him!"

"He scared you into telling him?" she asked skeptically, not believing her father could scare anyone.

"You're his daughter. You don't have a clue how scary he can be to the boys surrounding you. I lov – want to be your friend; which means I want to be around all the time and the fear just builds. I ran into him and was just afraid that he already knew and blurted everything out without thinking. You know how I can be! I can't keep my mouth shut." I asked her for mercy in unspoken words after I finished.

"You told him unprovoked?! Because of so called 'fear'" uh-oh, she added the air quotes. I'm about to be punished for my mistake. Well I guess I should have seen it coming; I did escape any trouble with her father. It would only be rational (Murphy's Law given) that I would run into that trouble at some point. Curse you Mr. Potter! Why did you have to give your daughter the sex talk from such a minor event?!

"No! Wait. I'm serious. I couldn't hold it in. I freaked out and his expressions only made it worse." I tried in vain to stop whatever was about to come (truthfully isn't getting punched twice enough to deal with?).

"You serious? No, Sirius was my father's godfather. He was in Gryffindor, where your cowardly soul shouldn't be. You aren't serious, you have to be lying for some reason!" she said loudly. I thought she knew me. She knows I would never lie to her. For some reason that I would regret later, I got angry and wanted to fight back but got cut off before I could.

"You know what! I don't want you around tonight. Go sleep on the couch. " Lily pointed down the stairs.

I was temporarily surprised by this notion, causing me to forget my anger. This would be the first time she had sent me to sleep on the couch (although I was sure it wouldn't be the last). We weren't even sleeping together. How ridiculous. "Sleep on the couch?" it came out as a question.

"Yes. Now get your ugly face out of mine," she said with finality. It was easy to see her temper getting the best of her.

As I turned around, letting my anger come back to me, footsteps could be heard on the stairs coming from the floor above. Albus Potter stepped into view on the landing and looked between me and Lily in the hall. He walked into the hallway to assumedly talk to us (more than likely for the yelling that was interrupting his night with his girlfriend. How come she gets to sleep over? A girlfriend! Lily's boyfriends would never get to sleep over. Mr. Potter is such a hypocrite).

"You guys were making quite a bit of noise," Albus said. Am I right? Or am I right?

"Not of the kind you and your girlfriend were making," I replied in a tone that implied lots (I'm sure you can imagine the types of noises I was implying they were making). Now was totally the wrong time for sarcasm. BAD Remus. Don't let your anger control you. That's Lily's job. Unfortunately I wasn't in Lily's good graces. It still gets me.

Albus glared at me, but didn't refute the statement. Ha. Score one for me. "Anyway," he said trying to change the subject. "Lily, I need to talk to you." Albus looked at me and then at Lily. It was clear that he wanted to talk to her away from me.

Lily either didn't get the hint or didn't care to obey it. "So?" she inquired, still showing the anger that had yet to subside.

Albus again looked at me before deciding to continue nonetheless. "A little bird spoke in my ear not long ago that you have been stripping for certain boys." And by 'certain boys' it obvious he meant me. It was even clearer that he didn't approve (probably on two levels. First: that she was stripping. Second: that it was me).

Lily snorted. Actually snorted. I am not sure why or in what manner. Albus (rather bravely or foolishly) continued onward in his reprimanding speech. "You are way too young to be thinking about doing such things Lil Sis. Boys are nothing but trouble and it is obvious that they are only after one thing. Don't give them that one thing. Please Lily."

I literally thought that Lily was going to explode. Therefore I was surprised when she didn't explode or even shout at her brother (I thought he deserved it. The nerve of him. Telling Lily what she could and could not do). "Who are you to tell me what I can or cannot do," said Lily (we are perfect for each other. We even think as one).

"I'm your older brother with your best interests at heart when I tell you that you shouldn't give scum like him what he wants," retorted Albus. Excuse me! Scum. Albus has always liked me. Since when did I become scum. Oh yeah. Since he thought I was trying to steal his sister's innocence. "I won't let you, as dad wouldn't let you, give yourself to any guy until you're ready."

"Won't let me?" said Lily acting taken aback clutching her hand to her chest. "What if I told you I am ready?"

"I would say that you are confused and too immature to know that you aren't," argued Albus. "Therefore I would have to stop you."

"Just try it," said Lily dangerously. Oh, this is bad. She isn't only angry, furious, and raging, she is losing it. This is the point where Lily starts to make irrational decisions (I've never actually seen her get so angry that she becomes irrational, but I imagined there was a point and that we had crossed it).

Apparently, and thank Merlin, Lily's whole train of thought had switched from my wrong doing to Albus'. This was confirmed when she stepped forward, grabbed my hand and started pulling me down the hall. "Come on Remmie," she snarled, but not quite as viciously as expected. Several emotions flooded me as we passed by the tent/common room. Included would be the anger that still hadn't let up, confusion as to what was happening, and joy from the pervy part of my brain that hoped we were headed to Lily's room to prove to Albus that she could do what she wanted.

As we approached Lily's bedroom it became clear in my mind just how dangerous it is for Lily to lose control. She was about to do something she was going to regret and I was fighting with myself as to what to do about it. Albus was still standing stunned at the other end of the hall when we reached Lily's closed door. She leaned against it and pulled me towards her. My thoughts spiraled out of control. There was a fierce battle raging between the part of my brain that wanted to continue, to feel Lily, and the part that wanted to protect her from ourselves.

All battle ceased when our lips met. It wasn't the kiss that I had dreamed of: full of passion and love, but a kiss full of harshness and lack of emotion (is it even possible to tell the difference like that? I guess it must be). Despite it not meeting my dreams, the kiss roped me in. Then Lily took the act a step further (obviously to spite her brother) and pulled my hand up underneath her small one and placed it on her breast. If I had been lacking rational thought before, then I don't know what I was now. Barely thinking, just living the moment, I took the hand not holding Lily and turned her doorknob to let us into her room.

We stumbled into her room once the door was open, heading towards her bed. Albus could be heard screaming Lily's name from the hall, but he was ignored. Instinct was controlling me as I lifted Lily onto the bed and climbed on after her. I was hungry for the contact, to be so close to the girl I loved, but deep down I knew it wasn't real. This wasn't how I had envisioned our first time together. This wasn't how I wanted us to get together. Lily didn't really want this either. She had lost control and wasn't thinking. One thought penetrated my brain: I was taking advantage of her.

At last I managed to pull myself off of her and I sat on the end of the bed cross legged. I shook my head to clear it and then stare at Lily who had propped herself on her elbows. "What's wrong Rem?" she asked with a failed attempt at softness. The tone proved to me that what I was doing was right; it reinforced my resolve to get away.

"I won't do it Lily," I replied. "You don't want this."

"Yes I do," she said back. "Come back here." She gestured towards her and looked me straight in the eyes. There was anger in those eyes (she seriously needs to learn to control it). But there was also a pleading that confused me. It seemed like the pleading was coming from the rational part of her brain; begging me to show that she wasn't throwing away our friendship with this one act.

I continued to refuse her will by shaking my head in a clear no.

"Come on Remus," she said. The shaking of my head went on. Her anger resurfaced and her next words hit hard, "Be a man."

"I am a man," I refuted and my anger that had been suppressed from earlier came out.

"Then prove it."

"No," I said back. I wouldn't do anything I was going to regret. She could be so infuriating.

"Pussy," she snarled. That was the last straw. If she was going to behave like that, then it was time to leave. I jumped off the bed, stomped to the door, and turned to get the last word.

"I think what you said earlier still stands. You obviously don't want me around," it killed me to say the words, but they flew from my mouth so easily. I walked out the door and slammed it behind me. Once in the hallway I started to run. Running could help me escape the problem. Right?

I was at the bottom of the stairs before I realized I didn't have a clue as to what I was going to do. I walked into the main floor sitting room and saw Mr. Potter lying on the couch adjusting a pillow underneath his head. Ginny must be really angry with him if he has been forced to sleep on the couch. He looked at me when I came in. "Remus?" he asked in concern.

I shook my head. I couldn't face him after what had just occurred between me and his daughter. In that moment I decided it was time to leave. I went to the fireplace, took some floo powder and threw it in.

"Remus," Mr. Potter said again. "What's wrong son?"

I looked back at him going through a great internal struggle. After what seemed like forever I decided not to say anything and instead shouted my house name and stepped into the emerald green flames. My last thought as I started to spin away was 'what a night'.

**A/N:** I know, I know. Depressing chapter. But hey, it couldn't all be laughs and giggles. If they had continued at the rate they were going, my story would only be five chapters long. Please Review. All reviewers get three wishes (not that I can promise any will be granted).


	5. Poor Daddy

**Disclaimer:** The amount of fictional writing I've done maybe equals 1/2 of a Harry Potter book, which I consequently haven't written.  
**A/N: **I apologize if you didn't want to read a chapter from Lily's POV, it will be back to Remus next chapter right where he left off (so technically you could chose to ignore this chapter). So get to it!

Lily's POV

I hate my mother. Don't get me wrong, I love my mum and couldn't live without her. But at the moment I absolutely despise her. There has to be a gene for fiery temper that is dominant in women in my family. My mother got that gene from her mother and then passed it on to me. So I guess, logically, I hate Grandma Weasley also. It just doesn't take much to ignite that gene. I hate my life.

There I was lying on my bed and my best friend had just stormed out. And what was my reaction? Anger! That's what got me in this position to begin with. I can't let my anger control me.

Why must I always do things I regret? This day was going so well! Playing games, hanging out with friends, fiddling with Remmie's mind. But then the idiot had to go and blab to my father. What on earth did he do that for? Obviously my father wouldn't take that in stride. He is way to overprotective and old fashioned. At least mum has some futuristic ideas even if she 'discourages me' from acting on any 'urges' I may have. Her words.

So what did that man go and do? He came and gave me the Sex Talk. For the SEVENTH TIME!!!! Quoteth my father: "Now I know, Princess, that the other boys and girls may be out there sleeping around, but I don't want you to go and throw away this special experience. Make sure the first time is with the right boy and that you are both prepared. Don't go flouncing about, showing off your body for random boys and no reason." Yeah, he said all that and more. And it's pretty much the same garbage each time. His usual assumption that I haven't made it to second or third base yet, much less fourth. He is so naïve. Alright, so maybe I haven't been to third or fourth base yet. And maybe I only let the one boy grope me, and that was only for a few seconds before he was hurting. I mean, I don't wear a purity ring for nothing! I'm just waiting for the right boy to notice me. So I only let that one boy go so far. Of course that was before tonight. So I guess two boys have felt me up.

Again, why must I do things I regret? And why must other people do things that will inevitably set me off? First my father and his ways. Then Remmie's inability to calm me down. Then my stupid brother coming and being all elder brotherly. He is such a hypocrite! Telling me I'm not allowed to be sexually active while he is going at it with his redheaded girlfriend every night. WAIT. Calm down Lily! Breathe.

I must calm down and think about what has recently happened. Let's see. I brought Remmie down the hall and attempted to sleep with him. Well that's not being true to myself. Now, mind you, this makes me feel terrible that I did this. But I used Remus. I USED him! To get back at my stupid brother. How could I do something so horrible? To my best friend no less. Then when Remus tried to stop it I patronized him. How can I be so evil?

I don't like realization. Can I go back to being oblivious? Realizing what I did just makes me feel like an arse. Remmie left me. He must be really mad. At me. Great. I really want to go back to being oblivious. You want to know why? Because tears seem to be mandatory in this situation. I never cry. Haven't for years. But here I am starting the process. Feeling bad. Don't cry Lily.

Oh no. First comes the sniffling and then the water works will start. If it's going to happen, then I might as well embrace it. Quick, find somebody to cry on. Somebody that will understand. Remus would be my first choice, but he can't stand me. Don't you dare cry harder Lily! Okay, who can I go to? Not my brothers. Stupid gits. They'll never understand. Hugo and Pixie? No, they'll be otherwise occupied. Mommy? She's mad at me too. Daddy! No one better than a father, even if I am pissed at him.

I sprung from my bed and stumbled to the door. That same door that Remmie slammed on me. I need my daddy. He can make this situation right. But where will he be? Knowing my mother, he will probably be downstairs on his favorite couch. Typical. My parents; there just are no words to truly describe their differentness. Their stupidness. Their amazingness.

Just like that I was at the bottom of the stairs, literally feeling my eyes become all puffy and my face blotchy. This is why I don't cry. I get all ugly looking. "Daddy!" I sobbed as I ran into the sitting room.

Daddy sat up very straight, very quickly and pulled out his wand. He gave the room a quick glance and upon spotting me lowered his wand. His face visibly relaxed when he realized there was no immediate danger and he adopted a caring and concerned expression upon glancing me up and down. "Baby come here," he said bringing his legs off the couch and opening his arms for the universal 'give me a hug' gesture. I ran to him and buried myself in his embrace. In his loving arms my sobbing intensified, much to my indignation. Crying may be fine for some girls, but that type of expression is not for me. Except maybe in this moment.

My daddy held me tighter as I wrapped myself into a ball in his lap. He soothingly rubbed my arm and let my tears fall. He kissed my head and said many comforting words. In other words he was being my dad: loving. Eventually when the tears and sobs and sniffling had receded somewhat Daddy deemed it time to talk about what was wrong. Sadly he was amazingly to the point.

"Is this about Remus, Princess?" he asked quietly. "Did he do something to hurt you?"

I quickly shook my head no and somewhere in the back of my brain there was an exasperated sigh. It was so like my dad to want to defend me from some horrible boy. Too bad I am the horrible one in this case. Please pause for more renewed weeping.

"Hey," said Daddy soothingly. "Hey. It's okay. I'm here. Tell me what happened Princess."

"It's all my fault, Daddy," I said between sniffles. "I've lost my best friend."

"Remus left all upset," Daddy told me. "What did you do? It seemed like everything was going fine earlier."

"I was all – all angry and yelled at him for telling you about the shirt thing. Then Albus came down and was all like 'I hate Remus, 'cause you're too good for him. And I won't let you sleep with anyone.' And that only made me angrier. So I wanted to show him if he could boss me around. So…" I choked up again thinking about what I did to Remmie. And there I was almost calm and speaking in a coherent voice. I was just so terrible to him.

"So…" my dad egged me on. He can't honestly want to hear what I did. Not as a father. Not as my father.

Daddy continued to stare at me, wanting to know what I did, but probably expecting the answer. I don't want to tell him. He'll be so mad. But he'll find out anyway. My butthead brother's probably already telling mom. "I tried to make him sleep with me!" I blurted out, accompanied by fresh tears.

For the briefest of moments, for no more than a couple of seconds I saw anger flash in my Daddy's eyes and his body tensed around me. But then, as suddenly as it had come, the anger receded back beneath his surface. A sadness replaced the anger and Daddy nodded his head sadly. So he had suspected.

"How far did you get?" he asked wearily.

I sniffled once and wiped the water from my eyes with my sleeves before answering. "Second base," I said. "We were on my bed kissing before he pulled back."

Daddy mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like 'reapply charms' and 'no boys in room' before actually speaking to me. He looked at me with a questioning stare and said, "Second Base?"

I know for a fact that my dad isn't that uncool. He very well knew about going to second base when he went there with mom. He's just trying to get exact details out of me. I, kind of, humored him. "Second base means he was feeling me up, Daddy."

It seemed as if he could no longer fully contain his anger, because his face took on a stern expression at my words. But he let that particular subject fall and moved on to a new one. "You said that Remus was the one to pull back and stop?"

"Yes Daddy," I said as Daddy nodded with a knowing look. "I tried to get him to continue, but he refused. Please don't blame Remmie for this. It's completely my fault. He doesn't deserve you being mad at him."

"Don't worry Princess. I won't harm Remus. I am disappointed in you, but I know how much of your mother you have in you. Practically replicas, the two of you are. She would never let anyone tell her what to do either. I can practically see that red hair flailing around," Daddy said with a chuckle.

This was so not the time for laughter. My best friend wanted nothing to do with me. "Daddy, what if Remmie doesn't want to be my friend anymore? What will I do if I threw my friendship away because of my temper?" I said to bring him back from visions of my mother.

"Oh, baby," Daddy sighed. "You don't have to worry about Remus not liking you anymore. He may be mad at you, but it will dissipate. Remus realizes very well what your character is. The fact that you have a quick and fierce temper doesn't come as a surprise to him."

Daddy gave me a reassuring smile. "You would have to beat that boy away with a stick for a long time before he would stay away from you. He understands completely what happened tonight. Or at least he will after thinking about it for a little bit. He walked out on you because he got caught up in the moment. I'll even bet you Remus is sitting at home under the impression that it was he that threw away your friendship and not you."

I sniffled once again. "You really think Remmie will take me back?"

"I'm positive," Daddy said giving me a hug. "You should probably go to him and make a very heartfelt apology, though. It would be appropriate."

I nodded at my dad and wiped my eyes again. "Okay," I said. Then, deciding that his advice was the right path to follow, I started to get off his lap. I paused once my feet were planted on the floor. Strengthening my resolve, I put one foot in front of the other and began my walk to the fire to go apologize.

"Whoa there," said Daddy and suddenly reached forward grabbing my arm. "Not tonight Princess. Now is the time to go to bed. Do it tomorrow. It will give everyone a little time to cool down. Okay?"

I looked at Daddy indignantly. Didn't he know what it felt like to me to have Remus this mad at me? I don't ever really cry, which meant this was Serious. This needed fixing and as soon as possible. Daddy obviously expected me to fight back because he gave me a stern expression and said, "It can wait, Baby. Maybe a little time will help teach you to what the consequences are when you don't control your temper." Then his expression lightened a little and he continued. "Not that your mother ever learned to control her temper. Oh well. I'll walk you up the stairs, how about? It'll give me a chance to check on Hugo, Pixie, Albus and Allison."

I choked at this. I didn't think it would be advisable for my father to walk in on whatever Hugo and Pixie would be doing. Not that I in any way believed they would go all the way after one night, but they would still be in a compromising position that Aunt Hermione wouldn't appreciate her son being in if she heard about it. And as for Albus and Allison; well, didn't he realize what his son was getting up to every night?

Trying to save everyone the embarrassment, I shook my head at my dad. "It's okay Daddy, I'll check on them on my way to bed."

"In other words, try to sneak away? I think not. I know better than that. I did raise James after all."

"Whatever, Daddy," I replied, deciding to go immediately to my room to try and avoid whatever mental damage was about to be dealt. He just isn't suspecting anything, is he? Poor Daddy.

**A/N:** That will (probably) be the only chapter from Lily's POV. I do realize she sounds quite a bit like Remus, but I did make an attempt to make her less random. As usual, please review because the FBI, CIA and SIS need extra information to check for terrorist plots (Don't make life easy on them!!).


	6. Angry

**Disclaimer:** I would only ever look like the owner of Harry Potter material with extensive plastic surgery (and a sex change operation).  
**A/N: **I got nothin, so get to it!

My life was over. Utterly. Completely. Terribly. Horrifically. Tragically. One hundred percent over. That was it. It was the end. If only, if only.

Am I sounding morose? Anyway. As I stepped (reading between the lines: fell) onto my living room floor, I couldn't help but think about how entirely WRONG this day, night, hour, whatever had gone. I simply could not comprehend how much trouble I was in (mentally, of course).

Did I just call myself mentally unbalanced?

Yes.

Who said that?!

I did, right.

Oh well, so maybe I was a little unstable mentally (and physically, that floo crap always gets to me). I mean, I had good reason to be. An entire friendship ruined. Completely. Utterly. Etc. Etc.

Blah, blah, blah.

Blah, blah, blah.

And for good measure, just to skip over more rambling: blah, blah, blah.

Wow, much better and only after three lines. Anyway, I must stop feeling sorry for myself. I must become a man. And men are tough. Maybe then, Lily will take me back. What I chose to do was right, right? But … I don't know. I'm so confuzzled.

It always seems like life moves so darn fast. One moment it's raining, the next it's pouring. I would say that my life is raining cats and dogs, but kitties and puppies are adorable. Who wouldn't want it to rain cats and dogs? Don't answer that. So, it's more like my life is raining spiders and snakes. Yuck. Just thinking about it makes my back shiver. To quote one of my muggle heroes, Indiana Jones, "Snakes! Why did it have to be snakes?!"

Isn't it amazing how you can be deep in thought and not realize where your legs are taking you? It's like they have little minds of their own. One second you're standing right beside your living room couch and the next you're walking face first into your closed bedroom door and falling on your arse when you ricochet off. Then you sit there with that pain in your arse and grumble about the complete lack of communication between your legs and hand and you're simultaneously wondering how your legs can lead you right to where you want to go without conscious thought.

Moving on. Yeah, I wish I could move on. That way I wouldn't feel this horrible pain in my heart that threatens to tear me apart. What did I do? I should have taken a different action. I should have thought. I should have known. Why did I ruin my relationship with the love of my life? Now I'll probably never get to be a part of that huge family that I've wanted to join for months now. I just shot myself in the foot. This is all my fault.

And what's probably worse is the fact that I'll end up like that last guy that got close to sleeping with Mr. Potter's only baby daughter. In other words bamboo shoved up my fingernails and burned at the stake. Or maybe even worse because I was so close to her. There are no limits when it comes to Mr. Potter and revenge (or so I hear).

Maybe I should run away. That way he'll never get near me. I kinda don't like pain. I mean I know I have to be brave and all (being a man and a Gryffindor) but it would just be so very much easier if I could run far, far away from my problems. Yeah. That's what I'll do. I will run away. Of course that means writing a tearful (I mean tearless) farewell letter to my parents, but I can tough it out (oh, and add a mental note to burn those copies of Witch Weekly under my mattress that follow the Bulstrode scandal and have tips for a better sex life (whoa, did I just say that I have Witch Weekly magazines? I need lessons in being a man. (Ha, I had a thought within a thought and now a thought within a thought within a thought. Ahem. Anyway.)))

"Remus?" Damn, that would be my mother. And here I am with the duffle bag already in hand. "Where are you going?"

"I … I, " I stuttered to give myself time to think of a reasonable answer to why I would be packing my bag. Then I blurted out the first excuse that came to mind, "I'm going on a camping trip with the Potters!"

Wow, what an excuse. Everyone knows the Potters don't go camping. Mr. Potter has long held the belief that he never wants to set foot in a tent again. He seems to have a natural aversion to the things. And on top of that it's almost midnight and I'm supposed to be at a sleep over. Nobody leaves for a camping trip in the middle of the night. Brilliant Remus. Real inventive.

"Harry is going camping?" asked my dad from the hall outside my room with disbelief in his voice. "I thought he had refused to do so since The War."

My mother gave me a stern look. Uh-oh. She is going to see right through me as only a mother can. I avoided looking at her eyes and consequently gave myself a nervous expression as my eyes darted around the room. One whole minute later my mother spoke with accusatory tones, "Which girl are you running off with? Is it Lily? It must be Lily as she is the only girl you've had eyes for since last Christmas break."

I gulped in response. She just knew too much!

Again my mother stared me down. "No, that's not it at all. You're running away from her. Not with her. What happened between you two Remus?"

Legillimency. That is the only possible answer. All mothers must be great Legillimens. How else could she have seen right through me like that? Sure I may not have been running away from Lily, but I was running away. And something did happen between the two of us. How could she have seen that?!

"Well," my mother said, tapping her foot. "I'm waiting."

"I- I'm …" I stammered, not sure what to say. Then I just said it, "I don't want to die."

Both my parents looked confused. Not surprising really. I elaborated before they could ask. "I'm running away from Mr. Potter so that he can't get a chance to kill me for kissing his daughter." I deliberately censored what happened for my parent's delicate ears. No need for my parents to believe I was anywhere near sexually active (that just brings up a whole lot of awkwardness).

My mother scoffed and my father snorted. I can see why. My father was really good friends with Mr. Potter and probably didn't believe that The Chosen One could possibly do anything like that. But he hasn't heard the rumors I have. This one guy dated Lily and when she broke up with him he could be seen crying his eyes out afterward and I swear he was limping. And all of that after he took a hard fall during a quidditch match. Poor bloke.

"Harry Potter isn't about to hurt you, kiss or not," said my mother. "There will be no running away from home for any reason."

"But Mommy," I whined.

"No you will stay in this room until you admit to us the real reason you are running away."

"Fine," I half shouted, crossing my arms and sitting on my bed glaring at my parents. "Keep me here, but you won't be so happy when you come in one day to find I've been tortured into insanity by Mr. Potter for stealing his little girl's innocence."

"Ha, I knew there was more," said my mother triumphantly while my father looked horrified. Oops. Tortured into insanity: his parents. Great now I feel bad. My mother gave me a shrewd look, "You slept with her didn't you?"

I had the decency to look aghast. That woman knew too much!! "I did no such thing," I full shouted this time. "I would never do that to her. I love h-her." Piss. Damn. Why is everyone getting to know my secret today?

It was my father's turn to look aghast. He was truly taken by surprise by my declaration. My mother on the other hand got this whole look on her face like she was touched, but not surprised and her mouth broke into a grin. Great, she already knew. I hoped it was just like mother's intuition or something and that I wasn't that obviously transparent. It would be really embarrassing if everyone knew. Especially Lily or someone who would blab to Lily. Hugo! He would blab in an instant. I better beat him into a pulp to make sure he doesn't open his big, fat mouth. But then again, he isn't terribly observant; maybe he didn't even notice I love Lily.

My mother sounded much more caring and less angry, "Would you like to talk about what happened honey?"

I looked down at my feet, "Not really mom. I would rather just sleep it off."

"Okay, just promise me you won't run off on me, please."

"Sure, sure."

My mom gave me something like an understanding smile and pulled my dad out the door shutting it as they went. I wondered how much she had read from my expressions (and mind, I've decided it has to be Legillimency). I laid back on my bed trying to clear my head from the entire events of the day. Soon enough my eyes were drooping and I was hugging my favorite pillow, drifting off with thoughts as to how I was going to apologize to Lily. I had caused her so much pain. But I was coming up with nothing. So, thankfully, my head was blank when I finally entered the land of the resting.

I jerked awake with the sound of a klaxon blaring in my ears. It was so loud I was practically going deaf. My eyes shot open to find my room lit by a dull red glow. "George frickin' Weasley!" I shouted as I grabbed my wand from under my pillow and jumped off my bed.

My father (well all who fought in the Second Great War) was paranoid with security. He had proceeded to buy an intruder alarm from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes when we first moved into this house. So now we had to deal with the deafening klaxon and submarine war lights whenever someone 'broke into' our house. It was kind of funny the first time Mr. Potter burst into our house one night to report on some evil dude and he practically pissed his pants and got into a duel with my dad before they realized who they were.

I didn't really expect the intruder alarm was set off by someone wanting to hurt us, but raised my wand to attack level and crept to my door to give my dad backup in case it was. I was well versed in both defensive and offensive attacks. My parents (along with the Potter parents, Weasley parents, and others from the original DA) had reinstated the group/club/organization when the children of the original members started to show up in force. Teddy Lupin was the first student leader of the next-gen DA when the group was restarted in his fifth year. My dad was the adult leader of Dumbledore's Army since he worked at Hogwarts. I had been in the DA with Lily, Hugo, and Pixie since our second year (the youngest you can join and honestly we didn't really have a choice. We were the children of the six founding fathers of the DA. How could we not be in it?). When we get out of Hogwarts we will join the Order of the Phoenix like Teddy and James and many others already have.

I made it out my door and was slowly walking towards the stairway when something sped up the stairs in a blur and tackled me before I could aim right and sent my spell ricocheting off the ceiling. "Remmie!" yelled the thing hugging me very tightly on the floor. I couldn't breathe. The floor had knocked the breath out of me in retaliation for falling so hard onto it and now long, silky hair was covering my face and smothering me.

"Get off my son!" yelled my father from the direction of the staircase.

"No!" the thing on me yelled back. My lungs were screaming for oxygen but my air passages didn't seem to want to work. I was starting to feel lightheaded.

"Lily?" yelled my father in a questioning tone over the continuing blaring of the klaxon. What are we a frikin' government building? Then it hit me. Lily! No wonder the thing on me was so soft (and no wonder the hair was smothering me. Not that I'm complaining. That girl has a beautiful head of hair). Suddenly the Klaxon stopped (Thank Merlin).

"What are you doing here at two in the morning Lily?" asked my father. I wanted to ask the same thing (why would she want to see me at all) but all I managed was a loud gasp for air as I started to black out.

"Remmie?" said Lily.

At the same time my father said "Remus?"

All I managed was another gasp.

"Remus!" Lily shouted, releasing me from her grip and jumping up ('Finally' said one part of my brain as the rest concentrated on sucking in air).

After some time my breathing evened out and my mother showed up. A look of mingled surprise and annoyance crossed her features when her eyes locked on my beloved. "Lillian," my mother stated rather stiffly. "What on earth are you doing here at this hour?" Apparently my mother wasn't about to forgive Lily for almost making her 'little boy' run away from home.

"Lils," I breathed as my head finally stopped spinning and ringing (I was going to demand my father get rid of that ridiculous alarm). I managed to push myself up onto my elbows and looked straight at Lily. Why was she here? Wasn't she angry at how I had treated her? I had done so much wrong. I needed her to be furious with me.

"Oh Remmie," Lily said as she jumped back onto me, making me collapse back off my elbows and almost cutting off my air supply again as she hugged me tightly. Then she did the last thing I would ever expect(and oddly enough something that would make me fall even deeper in love with her). She sobbed. And then she sobbed some more before breaking into a full weeping fit. "I am sooo, sooooo sorry."

I wasn't sure what to say or do. It wasn't like I was scared of a weeping girl or anything, but the sensation was new. Lily and Pixie just didn't cry. They weren't 'girlie girls.' Plus, what was Lily sorry for? I just reacted naturally to the situation by rubbing my hand smoothly on her back and whispering things like "shh" and "It's okay." When I looked up from Lily's form on mine it was to find my parents had disappeared (how convenient).

After a few minutes filled with Lily's sobbing, my reassurances, and her continued apologies the weeping slowed to a stop. Lily finally looked up at me with bloodshot eyes. I knew that she probably thought she looked horrible from crying but I could say with all honesty that she looked more beautiful at that moment with tears shining on her cheeks than she had ever looked in her life. I longed to be able to kiss the tears off her cheeks and tell her how nothing she could ever do could put a dent in the love I felt for her, but I resisted that urge.

"I really am sorry Remmie," she said. I continued to wonder what for. "I shouldn't have let my temper control my actions." Oh, she thought last night was her fault. Her eyes left the searching of my face to look straight into my eyes. Those mahogany orbs filled my entire focus and I almost didn't register her next words. "Can you ever forgive me?"

"Nothing you could do would ever turn me away from you Lils. You're my best friend." I said, managing to keep my tongue and emotions separated and therefore escaping telling her that I would never leave her because I was irreversibly in love with her. Then I smirked, "Well, almost nothing." (crossed my fingers on that last part).

A smile started to cross her pink lips and her face lightened with relief. I looked into her eyes again as I attempted my own apology. "I'm sorry also Lils. I should have handled the situation bet-" but my words were cut off as she pressed her pointer finger to my lips. She smiled and the movement brought my eyes darting to her rosy lips for a fraction of a second before returning to her eyes. I could have sworn I saw her eyes dart to my lips, but the movement was so quick I wasn't sure. At that moment nothing could have seemed more perfect to my mind than feeling those lips move with mine. I was exerting all my self-control to resist making that exact thing a reality.

Suddenly a loud banging came from down stairs, indicating that someone was pounding on my front door. I let my eyes leave Lily's to look at the stairway (grateful for the chance to have something pull my mind back from its attempts to force Lily to share my dreams). A chair scraped from the kitchen as someone (I assumed my dad) went to the door and opened it. There were low murmurs from the entryway as my dad apparently let the person in and closed the door again. I quickly looked back at Lily's face and saw it coated with apprehension, to the point of fear.

I wondered at the expression before I heard His voice blaring louder than the klaxon, "LILLIAN LUNA POTTER!"

My Lily gave a squeak of fright and hugged me tight to her again as if I could protect her from underneath. There was a stomping of feet climbing the stairs and with a strength I didn't know I had, I pushed Lily off me (her eyes looked at me with fright and offense). I then sat up and pulled Lily's body behind mine so that she was pressed against my back and hugging me again from behind. She leaned her head against my shoulder and gave a shiver as she heard (and I saw) Mr. Potter stop in front of me in the hallway.

He was breathing deeply and looked very (VERY) angry.

**A/N:** Right. Cliff hanger, sorry. The next chapter will contain a major plot line and more about the fancy new DA and Order of the Pheonix. I hope you liked the Lily/Remus interaction at the end. Reviews are like good books: nobody can enjoy them until they are writen and posted/published.


	7. The Perfect Night

**Disclaimer:** The only way my ideas are put in a movie is if someone else has my ideas also (unlike JKR who owns Harry Potter).  
**A/N: **I really kind of like this chapter and I managed to put some background into it. But you don't want to hear me babble on, so get to it!

Last time on Quest for a Lily:

My Lily gave a squeak of fright and hugged me tight to her again as if I could protect her from underneath. There was a stomping of feet climbing the stairs and with a strength I didn't know I had, I pushed Lily off me (her eyes looked at me with fright and offense). I then sat up and pulled Lily's body behind mine so that she was pressed against my back and hugging me again from behind. She leaned her head against my shoulder and gave a shiver as she heard (and I saw) Mr. Potter stop in front of me in the hallway.

He was breathing deeply and looked very (VERY) angry.

"Remus. Will you please move from in front of Lily," Mr. Potter said with an attempt at politeness. He jerked his head to the side to indicate my movement. But there was nothing he could say or do that would make me move. I had just got my Lily back, an event complying with my wildest dreams. I was not about to let her get away (Is it just me or am I completely ridiculous for being unable to live without her for how many hours was she gone? Three? Pathetic).

"No!" I stated very resolutely (and very bravely in my opinion) to Mr. Potter. Lily gave me a small squeeze. I almost sighed. But didn't.

"Remus," said Mr. Potter (Harry damnit! Grow a backbone). Though this time he said my name with a little more force and a little less politeness. "I need to speak to my daughter."

"She's right here," I stated simply.

"Alone."

"I'd rather we all stayed right here," I said. This was taking all of my Gryffindor courage to stand up to H-Harry Potter like this. I was almost ready to start quivering but Lily's grip around me was keeping me from giving in to my fright.

"Remus!" said my father coming up the stairs. "Do what Harry says!"

"No," I said stubbornly.

"You will if you don't want to be grounded for the rest of your life," my father said sternly.

"I don't care," I replied. "I won't have her taken away from me."

Both my father and Lily's stared daggers at me. I was being very teenage-like. In other words rebellious. On one hand it felt exhilarating, but on the other hand it was terrifying to stand up to these two bullies that called themselves dads. Lils gave me another squeeze and whispered in my ear, "It's okay Rem. Don't get into trouble because of me. I knew I was going to get it when I snuck over here."

"No. Friends stick together. I won't leave you to the big bad wolf," I whispered back to her turning my head to the side.

"Friends stick together, but best friends laugh at the other when they get caught," she repeated one of our mottos. But it wasn't in The Rulebook, so I didn't have to follow it. Us four new Marauders (thusly renamed the Rebels 'cause it would look stupid and be disrespectful to use the name of the last great foursome) have our own book of rules and laws. It is a long and ludicrous list, but even ruffians need to have a code to follow. Right?

But anyway, there was no rule forcing me to abandon a fellow Rebel in a situation like this.

"That's a matter of opinion. I won't leave you and there is no Rule to force me to," more whispering.

"Damn Rulebook," Lils hissed. "There will be a new Rule when this is over."

"But there isn't one now. I'm not leav-"

"We can hear you," my dad broke in.

"-ing you," I finished.

"You do realize that don't you?" continued my dad. "Now say your goodbyes."

I turned my head back to the father figures with an expression of grim determination crossing my features. I followed that expression with a frown and attempted to cross my arms but got them caught on Lily's (I am so very graceful). I did manage to get them crossed in the end though.

"That's enough. Your obstinacy is inspiring Remus, but this is not the time," said (the evil, ah, kinda. Sorry future father in law) Harry Potter. "You will obey us. Now Lily COME HERE!"

Wow, the demand was even complete with the stereotypical pointing (jabbing more like) down of the finger and tapping of the foot. His nostrils flared and his eyes turned to slits. Again I almost let out squeak of fright. Man, that dude is scary (I wonder what he'll do when I ask for his daughter's hand. He can't kill me without incurring the wrath of his daughter, but … hmmm). After about ten seconds Lily seemed to give in and loosened her hands underneath my crossed arms. I, by instinct, grasped her forearms so that she wouldn't be able to let go of me.

"Let go Remmie," my love said with a sigh.

"Don't make me use force son," said my father.

Bingo! Brilliant flashes of light. The light bulb turning on. Whatever you want to call it, but I had a marvelous epiphany. Well, a dangerous and potentially disastrous idea to be frank (who I am not. But it is my middle name. So, close enough). Here it is: if my dad tries to 'force me' I defend myself and retaliate. I still have my wand. Lily and I could fight through those big bullies (they won't try too hard, in case they might harm us). Then we could … ah … well we would have to go somewhere. Run away, if you must. To get away fast enough we would have to apparate. It's not like I haven't side along apparated before and I've studied the concept and for a DA lesson once we gave apparition a shot (that lesson was abandoned as a bad job, but not before I splinched myself once). So how do I get Lily to follow my lead?

"I'll count to three Remus," my father continued.

Uh-oh. A countdown. I'm out of time.

"One."

I guess it will just have to be a seat of the pants escape.

"Two."

Checklist! Wand? In hand. Courage? Working it up.

"Two and a half."

Lily? Still holding on. Okay. Ready. Set.

"Three!"

Go! My dad and I raised our wands at the same time. As he said some non-verbal spell and I spit out a hurried protego. My dad's spell bounced off the walls before hitting a picture of me and blasting it into smithereens (call that poetic justice. Some form of me had to take the blast). Mr. Potter drew is wand out of reflex, instantly going into battle mode. Lily let go of me and also pulled her wand out (from where I'm not sure and probably want … ah, I mean, don't want to know). The tension hung like a mist in the air as we stared each other down.

"This is ludicrous, everyone put their wands away. And Remus, hand over Lily," shouted my mother, showing up behind the men. Despite that order, nobody relinquished their battle stance. All it would take to set us off into a duel would be a large dust bunny blowing across the hallway.

Ask and you shall receive. That's my motto. This rather large dust ball (that looked a little like a psycho bunny) floated along between we standing off peoples and that was what did it (or maybe it was my dad saying "get them." Who knows?)

Lily grabbed me from behind and pulled me to the ground as the first spells flew. She sent her own red jet flying back on our way down. I hit the floor and rolled over sending a couple spells down the hall without aiming (and let's be honest: it's a hall, it's not like they have anywhere to go). As a spell grazed my head, singeing my hair, I decided it was time to blow this popsicle stand. I jumped to my feet sending out a generic protego again to protect my back while I pulled Lily to her feet beside me. When I turned around I saw that we were actually doing pretty well: my mom was on the floor stunned and my dad was sporting a bloody nose and lying on the ground with his wand pointing toward us, while Lily's dad alone looked at home in the situation, crouching a couple steps down with a smile on his face as he stuck his head over the landing.

"Were going," I called to Lily as a whistling spell flew past us putting a hole in the wall at the end of our own personal gauntlet. She nodded and took my hand as we started to sprint the short distance down the hall, putting shields up in front of us as we went.

We burst past my dad in a couple of seconds and I let go of Lily's hand and dived at her father as he took aim at us. I crashed into my enemy and we went cascading down the stairs with many a grunt and "ouch." Lily screamed as we tumbled but I couldn't decipher what she was trying to get across. When the plummet finally stopped I found myself lying on a slightly unconscious Mr. (Harry! Come On!) Potter. Lily was by our side in an instant and my father was following down the stairs. She pulled me up, took one look of sorrow at her father and yanked me towards the front door.

In seconds we were out on the pathway leading to the driveway and I stumbled to a stop. "What now genius?" Lily snapped.

"Apparate," I gasped through a nasty pain in my side where I hit a stair VERY wrong.

"Remus! Lily!" came a yell out the open front door.

"Are you losing it?" Lily said exasperated. "We can't apparate!"

"Yes we can," I said as firmly as I could manage while I staggered the few steps to Lily's side and grasped her forearm with extreme force. With as much determination as I could muster, I thought about my destination (the Leaky Cauldron). When hurried footsteps came from behind us, I spun on the spot disappearing into nothingness. The pressure was as horrible as ever, causing my ears pop and eyes to bug out of their sockets. But then, as I was about to decide I would suffocate, the pressure loosened up and finally released its hold. I released Lily's arm and lurched forward a little as the world came back to my senses full blast.

We were not, as far as I could tell, right outside the Leaky Cauldron as I had intended. Lily took a big, shaky breath from beside me. I jumped as I realized she was there and could have splinched from my inexpert apparition skills. With as much speed as a bullet I spun to the girl beside me and looked her up and down carefully. She did not seem to be harmed, just a little shaken. Content that the love of my life was fine, physically at least, I decided to take in our surroundings.

Lily and I seemed to at the edge of a rather dark alleyway off what would have been a rather busy street during the lighted hours. It was clearly London or a suburb of said city. There were stores and restaurants along the stretch of pavement that I could see. Then I spotted it: a hotel. A muggle hotel to be sure, but a hotel nonetheless. It seemed to be rather upscale with a fountain out front and standing many floors high. It would be a perfect place to spend the night (or what was left of it).

Out of nowhere I was slapped on the back of the head with what I deemed to be unnecessary force. "You idiot! What was the point of taking a risk like that! We could have ended up in a bunch of tiny pieces with your scatterbrain leading the way."

"Hey," I said defensive, raising my hands up. "I got us here alright didn't I?"

"Yeah. You got us here," she snapped. "Wherever here is."

"You know what?" I snapped back, mildly offended (I did just get us out of a sticky situation after all. A little appreciation would be nice). "I think I could use a little credit for managing to get us out of there at all."

Lily sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Fine, you're right. It was pretty awesome how you managed to apparate away. We are in deep shit now, though. We attacked our parents and ran away. Breaking the law into bits in the process I might add."

I sighed also and stuffed my wand into the back pocket of the jeans I had never removed from last night. I held out a hand, palm up, and nodded towards the hotel down the road a little bit, "Shall we?"

Lily smiled a big smile and placed her hand in mine. "We shall," she said. "I could go for a Jacuzzi right about now. It'll relax the tension and make me forget about our impending doom."

I clasped my fingers around hers and started to skip my way in the direction of the hotel. She started to whistle the tune "Follow the Yellow Brick Road" from one of her favorite muggle movies (that being kind of redundant because there are no wizarding movies) the Wizard of Oz. We were full of giggles as we arrived in front of the four star hotel.

"Wait," she commanded right before we were to enter the second set of doors. Lily stuck her arm out so it caught me in the chest and I stumbled from the impact. She sniggered at me as I mockingly glared at her and rubbed my chest where she hit it (Lily's got some strength to her. That actually hurt a little bit, not that I'm about to let that on).

"What?" I questioned.

"We need a payment method." Lils stated bluntly.

"Frick," I swore. I had forgotten the cost. All I had in the pair of pants I was wearing was a couple of galleons and I could have bet both the galleons that the hotel wouldn't take them.

"It's okay," Lily smirked at me. "I got this one."

She then proceeded to do something that embarrassed me immensely. Lily stuck her hand down her pajama top and I assumed into her bra, searching for something. I turned my head so that I wouldn't get caught staring at her boobs (plus I deemed this something kind of private). My love got done digging in her bra and pulled something out with an "Aha!"

I finally glanced back at her at her exclamation to make sure it was safe to look. It was. Lils was holding a small, plastic, blue card. I recognized it as the credit card Lily had used many a time before. She held it out to me so that I could take it. "You should pay seeing how you look more presentable."

I wasn't sure I wanted to take the card. It had been on the inside of Lily's bra. While she was wearing it. Not that I'm opposed to Lily's breasts, it's just, I don't know, some kind of moral code. Lils cocked her head to the side while I deliberated. Seeing the look in her eye made me swipe the card from her hand without another thought. "Come Lils," I said, entering the lobby and making my way to the front desk. "We're going to find our suite."

Despite it being close to three in the morning, there was someone sitting at the front desk. They looked barely awake and didn't seem to sense our approach. I stood up to the desk holding the boob-touched card in my hand and gave a cough to alert my presence.

"Huh?" said the representative.

"A Jacuzzi suite if you have one," I said with confidence. The person took the card without looking at me and then handed me a key card to room 528. I got the credit card back and Lily and I headed towards the elevators.

We arrived at room 528 in short order and Lily used her key to unlock it. We stepped into the room and stopped from shock. The room was massive and very expensively decorated. There was a huge flat screen t.v. with surround sound, several plush chairs and couches, a dining table, two doors leading off the main room, and a humongous Jacuzzi sitting in a corner. I smiled at Lily and said, "Excellent."

Lily smiled back and immediately went over to the Jacuzzi and started the tap to fill it up. I walked to the t.v., turned it on and went through the pay per view movies. I put on a comedy that looked good and went to look at the bathroom and then bedroom. There was a problem with the bedroom. There was only one bed; king sized to be sure, but still only one. Humph. Well I guess we'll come up with something.

"Hey Lils," I said as I reentered the main room. "There is –" but the rest was driven from my mind as I saw what Lily was doing. I hadn't really thought about it when I had asked for the room, but it was plainly obvious now. We didn't have swim suits! So Lily, being the unstoppable force that she is, was removing her pants next to the almost full Jacuzzi.

I was split down the middle for the second time in twelve hours. Part of me was hoping that she would put the pants back on and of course the pervy side of me was more than hopeful that she had skinny dipping in mind. My mouth fell open as I stood there and gaped as Lily stepped out of her pajama bottoms and pulled off her pajama top. Her panties and bra were a matching set, pink and way to frilly and lacy (remember my comment about guys going for lace?).

I managed to pull myself moderately together before Lily looked up and smiled at me. "Coming in?" she said gesturing to the hot tub. I didn't take time to think, I just nodded and walked forward pulling off my shirt. Lily was so gorgeous. My star. Gravity just pulled me towards her. Damn gravity. It doesn't have rational thought. I needed to pause and think about this situation. Add it up. Jacuzzi + half naked Lily + half naked me = very dangerous situation. I didn't know if I would be able to control myself.

Lily, however, didn't seem to grasp this concept. It didn't seem to phase her in the slightest that we would be in our underwear and in a tub together. Alone. Ahhhhh! This is torture.

Somehow I found myself sitting in the tub across from the love of my life with her contemplating my face. After a little while she sat up straighter and leaned towards me showing the tops of her breasts, but I didn't look in that direction. I concentrated very hard on analyzing her face. She looked in my eyes. "You know," she said kind of hoarsely (must be the steam from this stupid, idiotic, amazingly wonderful Jacuzzi). "I never did thank you properly for rescuing me from the wrath of my father."

"Oh, it was nothing," I said waving my hand in a careless way.

"No it wasn't. You deserve something as a reward. Whatever you want. Say it and you shall receive."

She looked hard into my eyes as I thought this notion over. "Whatever I want?" I asked. She nodded. I looked back into her rich brown eyes as I thought through everything I could have possibly wanted (while pushing all the pervy things to the side).

Finally I came up with one. I smirked at her. It was a good one. She smirked back and leaned closer. "Are you sure when you say anything?" she nodded. "Absolutely anything?" she nodded again and her smirk grew. "Alrighty then. I want us to become Animagus!" I burst out excited.

Lily didn't seem to register what I said at first. Then what I came up with hit her and she sat back very fast looking horrified. "You want what?" she said loudly (funnily her hoarseness is gone. How odd).

"I want us to become Animagus." I repeated.

"Don't be an Idiot!" she said.

"But you said anything," I said in a whimper and starting to pout.

"That's not what I had in mind," she said softly before speaking louder and looking back at me. "Are you sure? Please pick something else. I'll do it, but only because I don't want to see you beg. But please reconsider. It's difficult and what you're thinking is illegal."

I waved my hand carelessly in her general direction, "The law is for pussies."

Lily frowned. "So your mind is made up? You won't consider something else?"

I couldn't help myself, my eyes darted to her almost naked body underneath the bubbling water. NO! That was not something I could ask for. Bad pervy brain. I looked back up to her face and said, "Nope. My mind is set. I want to be an animal."

Lily let out a huge sigh. "Alright, fine. We will become animagus."

I let a massive smile cross my face and bounced up and down a little bit clapping my hands. I imagine I looked like a little child that was getting their favorite cookie. "Yeah! Thank you Lily." Then I did the unthinkable and splashed my way across the tub and hugged Lily. It felt nice to hold her, but after a little bit I came to my senses and let go like I was burned.

Lily patted me on the top of the head and beamed at me, "Your welcome my little puppy dog."

"Puppy?" I said in mock offense.

Lily laughed and shoved my shoulder. "You know," she said. "Being an animagus will be a big help if we ever get into a real life threatening fight."

"Yeah," I agreed. "I hope we do. It would be a shame to have all those DA meetings count for nothing."

We both sat there for a minute with our eyes glazed over thinking about those meetings and how they would apply to a fight. The DA was a big part of we Rebels' lives. When we weren't creating havoc, in class, eating, or (heaven forbid) doing homework then that probably meant we were at a meeting. The meetings were pretty awesome. Dumbledore's Army of the new generation was like a precursor to the Order of the Phoenix. If you were in the DA during school, then you had a choice to join the Order of the Phoenix when you graduated. It was very rare that someone who wasn't in the Army got into the Order.

Now it may be asked why, after the fall of the Chief Death Eater, was the Order of the Phoenix still around? Well, originally the order did disband after the war. Then, after Mr. Potter got through his Auror's training, he went to Kingsley with the idea that the Order should remain around to fight evil even if there is corruption in the ministry. The ministry had learned the hard way how corruption could let evil get a foothold so Kingsley agreed. But Kingsley didn't want to lead the Order again what with his new position as the Minister of Magic. Harry and Hermione didn't want to lead it either as they were Ministry employees. They needed someone on the outside. My father couldn't take it because he was the new head of the remainder of Dumbledore's Army. Finally they turned to Ron. Ron Weasley took the job with open arms (he kind of has a superiority complex and being head made him feel important). Mind you if the wizarding world ever did get into another war then Ron would probably have to relinquish his post as sole head honcho to a three or four headed leadership.

That's about all I really know about the Order (seeing how I'm too young. Humph. Stupid parents. And these are the same people who complained to Molly about being in the OotP when they were our age). I guess in all reality there isn't a whole lot to know. There are no imminent threats to the wizarding world like You Know Who (as far as I know). So all I really know the intricate details of is the DA (oh and Lily's face and Hogwarts).

So Dumbledore's Army is an awesome group. We have about thirty members at the moment (of which about a third are Weasleys or Potters). It is mostly a student club but still watched over by my dad. Every so often guest teachers come in to teach: people like Lily's dad and mom, Lily's brother (that was a lesson full of laughs. Typical James. Never could be serious), Hugo's parents, Teddy Lupin, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and other assorted Weasleys and Order members. Every year a seventh year is named the Student Headship (this year it's a fight whether it will be Albus or Rose. Scorpius could never get Headship. Rose's boyfriend or not he is still a Malfoy and a Slytherin. Some things just can't be completely trusted). We meet in the Room of Requirement like the DA of old. I'm told that the room still takes the form that it did for the DA during my dad's fifth year.

In Dumbledore's Army we learn how to fight (duh) and other special defensive spells that might come in handy if the wizarding world ever broke into another civil war. The older students teach the younger and sometimes specialty lessons are given to the oldest students from the guest teachers. However the most awesome part of the New DA is that there are duel nights where the Room of Requirement gets turned into a huge battleground and Dumbledore's Army gets divided into two teams of seven (the others watch if they want to. Third years and below are exempt because they ARE too young, even though they might not see it that way). Then those two teams square off and the last team with a member able to fight gets butterbeers. There is one stipulation to the duel (otherwise it's virtually rule less) and that is that only nonviolent spells are to be used (the oldest students are taught violent methods of fighting such as sectumsempra because you need to be able to really incapacitate an enemy in a battle, not just stun them. It is too easy to undo a stunning spell in a real battle, but we aren't allowed to undo it in our fake battles).

I came out of my thoughts with a jolt. I'm not sure what made me come to my senses so suddenly, but whatever. I looked at Lily to see that she was still deep in thought. She looked so cute when she was thinking.

It was probably time to get out of the Jacuzzi because if I stayed in much longer I was going to end up looking just like a human prune. So how to make Lils come back to her senses? A fake yawn should do it. I started to fake a massive yawn but halfway through it turned into a real yawn and I ended up stretching my muscles. Hmmm. That didn't work out like I planned. After my yawn was finished I saw that Lily had come back to her senses and she gave a huge yawn of her own (I looked away pointedly when she stretched her muscles).

"You idiot Remmie," she said when she finished yawning. "Yawns are contagious. You should know better than to yawn around someone else."

"Well sorry, miss high and mighty," I responded with a rolling of my eyes. Then I stuck my tongue out at her.

She stuck her tongue right back at me. I snorted. We were such little children. "What?" she asked.

"Nothing," I replied. "But I really need to get out before I end up looking like a raisin. Plus we should get some sleep."

"If you say so. I was really enjoying this though," she said with a sigh.

It was then that I remembered that there was only one bed. I guess I could sleep on the couch (it was, after all, what she told me to do several hours ago). I supposed it was time to tell Lily about the sleeping predicament. "Hey Lils," I said. "There is only one bed in this room, so do you want me to sleep on the couch?"

She stared at me as if I was retarded. "I'm not opposed to sleeping in the same bed as you Remus. We did sleep in the same bed when we were just kids after all."

That was true, but it was also before we realized there were reasons for private parts other than going to the bathroom. And it was before I realized I had feelings for her. Strong feelings. But in the end I couldn't fight what I really wanted, so I said, "True. Well if it truly is okay with you, then I'll go get dried off and head towards the bedroom."

"Sure, I'll meet you in there in a little bit."

I walked to the bathroom and closed the door. Once the door was closed I practically started hyperventilating. Ever since we had escaped my house this night had gone according to some of my more cherished dreams. However, the night wasn't going to be allowed to end the way those dreams did. Why did she have to do this to me? Why? It would have been so much easier on my guy psyche if she had just told me to sleep on the couch; if she hadn't gotten into that stupid tub in the first place. Now here I am so close to getting the night I wished for and not able to have it because we weren't more than friends. I wasn't her boyfriend yet. That was it; plain and simple.

I needed to talk myself down. This situation could be reasoned out. Yeah. It was a big bed (being king sized and all). Easy solution: she would sleep on one side and I would sleep on the other. No getting even close to touching. I sure hope I don't blow my mouth off about this night to Mr. Potter (screw it, I'll just never be able to call him Harry). I'm pretty sure he wouldn't take reminiscences of this night as well as he took the news of yesterday.

After getting my head back on straight and drying off (getting my boxers only mostly dry) I walked back out of the bathroom. Then I had a new dilemma. What should I wear to bed? I normally (when at home) just sleep in my boxers. At school I usually wear my favorite pair of pj shorts. But I didn't have my pajama shorts here, so should I wear my jeans? No, I guess I'll just wear my boxers to bed (I'll be on the opposite side from Lily. It'll be okay).

I entered the room and walked to the bed. After I fluffed the pillow, I pulled back the covers and hopped into the bed. I hadn't turned on a light, so I started to get drowsy almost right away. From the main room I heard Lily walk to the bathroom and close the door.

A few minutes later Lily entered the bedroom in almost complete darkness. She padded over to the bed and climbed on. I felt the bed bounce as she crawled over to my side and slip underneath the sheets. My skin seemed to be extra sensitive and tingly as the love of my life positioned herself so she was curled up against my back and her arms slipped around my torso. I wasn't sure to be thankful (the way this night was going) that she was still wearing her undergarments or annoyed that she hadn't put her clothes back on. I guess it was too much to ask for that Lily would cooperate with my plans to be separate.

I used all the self control I had to remain relaxed and not tense up as Lily's warmth seeped into me. I raised one of my arms so that it was holding the arms she had wrapped around me. Willing myself to go back towards sleep, I took a deep breath.

"Remmie" I heard a soft, slightly higher than normal voice say behind me.

"Yeah?" I breathed back.

"What animal do you want to become?"

I thought about that for a little bit. I had thought about becoming an animagus for years now. And I had put a little thought into the animal I wanted to become. So which of my favorites did I want to actually become? "I guess I was thinking like a wolf or husky." I answered her.

"Oh," she said in her soft voice still.

"Why, what were you thinking?"

"Well, I was kind of thinking I wanted to become a golden retriever."

"Hmm. They are very pretty," I commented. Lily would be the most beautiful, most adorable golden retriever out there (of course you would have to watch out for her bite).

"Uh huh," she sighed. She paused for a little while and then asked, "When you said we, did you mean for it to be Pix and Hugo also?"

"Sure," I said. "It would be pretty mean to exclude them from something this big."

"Yeah, it would."

"We should try to get some sleep Lils."

"I guess so," she said and with that she cuddled into my back and started to drift into the land of the resting. For all my complaining this night really had turned out very well. In fact it was almost like the perfect night.

**A/N: **Reviews are like happy pills for both the reviewer and the writer: they can brighten both of their days with just a few words.  
--Chris


	8. Punishment

**Disclaimer: **I happen to have a very different type of obsession wtih the Harry Potter series than the author (say JKR) could ever possibly have.

I was woken from one of the best dreams involving Lily I had ever had (despite the fact that we hadn't even kissed) when I heard a door opening. I was kinda annoyed that I had woken, it had been a great dream. It had involved me and Lily in a hot tub and having fun like usual AND she had said yes to becoming animagus (a great ambition of mine). I sighed and gave myself a mental shake to get control of my senses.

There were several very different things than usual. I could tell immediately that I was not in my own bed at home, nor was I sleeping on cushions at Lily's place; the bed I was on now was too soft and the sheets were extraordinarily silky. The second thing to hit my senses (although you would think it would have been the first) was that there was a weight on my chest. It was obvious that the weight was a person and just as obvious that it was Lily (I had hugged her enough to know the feel of her in an instant). I realized that Lily was lying with her head on my shoulder, her left arm under my right shoulder, and her right leg tangled with my right leg. I then realized that my arms had been wrapped around her protectively in my sleep. The third thing that hit my senses, or my sixth sense in particular, was the fact that there was someone standing in the doorway to this bedroom looking at us.

It was at this point that it hit me that the dream I had enjoyed the previous night was not just a dream. Holy Cow. Wait, that person had opened the door and probably heard my sigh when I woke up. Oh, dear God, please don't let it be Mr. Potter (I am too young to die and I'm sure he wouldn't even hesitate to kill me in front of Lily).

The person standing in the doorway gave a high pitched "hem, hem." Well at least it wasn't Mr. Potter. His vocal cords, I knew, would never be able to reach that pitch. I decided that the best action to take at this point would be to observe who it was that was standing in Lily and my hotel room. Raising my head slowly, I looked over the love of my life towards the light coming from the outer room. Ginny Potter stood there, looking down right pissed.

Oh, shit.

"Good morning Remus," she said in a dangerously cheery voice. Even her smile looked like it desired nothing more than to hand out punishment.

"M – Morning," I stammered back softly.

"I would like to talk to you, if you don't mind," she continued in the same tone. "Do I need to leave so you can get decent?"

I gulped and blinked profusely. Deciding it would be better if she saw I was still wearing something, even if it meant her seeing my boxers, I said, "No ma'am."

Very slowly, so as not to wake her, I dislodged myself from Lils and rolled out of bed. I self-consciously hitched up my boxers and looked over to Mrs. Potter. She gave me a huge, nerve wracking, extremely scary smile and beckoned to the outer room. I followed her and bent down to pick up my jeans as I passed them and put them on. I really had no intention of staying so unclothed in front of the love of my life's mother (it was kind of disturbing).

Mrs. Potter sat down on the couch in the outer room and gestured for me to do the same on the other side of the couch. She looked at me long and hard before saying, "You two are in massive trouble Remus."

I gulped and let my thoughts run wild, leading me to blurt out, "We haven't been expelled have we?"

"No, you two are not in trouble with the school or the Ministry thanks to Hermione."

I breathed a sigh of relief. Of course Lily's aunt Hermione would take care of the legal troubles as only she could, by being head of the Magical Law Enforcement department.

Mrs. Potter continued in a demanding tone, "You two owe her quite a bit for turning her head at that flagrant violation of underage magic and unlicensed apparition."

"Yes ma'am," I said with a downtrodden look (I wasn't entirely sure why I was calling her ma'am, but it did seem respectful).

I glanced up briefly at Mrs. Potter's face to see what was coming and found that she had hitched her evil smile back onto her expression. She clapped her hands once in that greedy, about to get down to business fashion, and said, "I believe we will skip over the conversation concerning your misdeeds until my daughter gets up, Remus, and instead focus on the fact that I found you laying in a bed, almost naked, with _my_ daughter."

I managed another large gulp (you'd think I would have ran out of spit) as Mrs. Potter's grin widened. I found myself blurting out another response to a phrase that wasn't a question. "It's not what it looks like" I said as my hands came up in a wait gesture.

"That's what they all say Remus," Mrs. Potter countered. "At least you could have the decency to tell me the truth if you are sleeping with my daughter."

"Really," I stammered frantically, "Sleep was all that was involved. We didn't have…" I gulped again for good measure, "You know."

Mrs. Potter rolled her eyes at me, "Can't say the word sex Remus? Guilty conscience maybe?"

This conversation is sooo not one I should be having with _Lily's_ mother. My own maybe, but not Lily's. It is way too awkward. "No!" I said resolutely in a confident voice. I must stand up and be a Gryffindor and a man. "I do not have a guilty conscience. All that we did last night is sleep. We didn't even kiss. We're not even dating." I threw my hands up in the air dramatically. And with that display I turned and walked back into the bedroom.

Now don't ask me why I went back to the bedroom, that's just where my feet carried me. It might be that I intended to get more sleep because I found myself climbing back into bed beside Lils. She was lying on her side mostly how I had left her and looked utterly peaceful and … and beautiful like a storybook princess. I would be more than content to open my eyes to that face every day of my life. Wanting to be a little closer to her I wiggled forward and wrapped her upper arm back around my waist (I had apparently forgotten that my future mother in law was only a room away).

However, I hadn't bargained for Lily's reaction to my own actions. When I placed her arm around me, it was like she automatically pulled herself into me. Her face, which I hadn't realized had looked a little tense before, relaxed and a slight smile crossed her lips. Then, to my utter embarrassment (what with her mother so close), Lily gave a little moan.

My cheeks were just done reddening when Lily's eyes started opening. She took a second to seem to get a hold on things before her eyes moved up to my face. A huge smile lit up her face. Then she did something totally unexpected: Lily kissed me! Right on the lips. It was quick, but perfect and caused a slight smile to cross my face. "Good morning Remmie," she said adoringly while looking back into my eyes. I was temporarily stunned by such gestures and didn't do anything but grin stupidly.

But something is always there to ruin my good moments. While Lils and I were getting cuddly, Mrs. Potter had moved back into the doorway and crossed her arms. I could see her out of the corner of my eye as Lily and I stared at each other, but Lily couldn't because she was looking up to me. Consequently Lily's mom gave out her high pitched 'hem hem' when it didn't look like we were going to pay her any heed. Confusion masked my Lily's features when she heard the sound and looked to the doorway. Upon spotting her mother Lily gave out a frightened little yelp and jumped back from me. I took a second to realize how cold it felt without her next to me before coming back to the situation at hand.

"Mommy," Lily squeaked when she had managed to get across the bed from me. I was very conscious of Lils being only in her undergarments and apparently so was she because she attempted to pull some covers over her. There was utter fear in the love of my life's features. It annoyed me that just the sight of her mother could do that to my Lily (not that I blamed Lily for being so frightened, her mother could be truly scary when she wants to be).

"Lillian Luna Potter what _were_ you thinking?" Mrs. Potter sort of yelled.

"It's not what it looks like Mommy!" Lily said frantically (he he, we think exactly alike). "We didn't have sex." Now why is it that Lily can say the word so effortlessly and I can't say it at all?

Mrs. Potter shot a glance at me before making her next comment, "Could we talk in the other room daughter?"

Lily shot me a glance also before answering, "Whatever you want Mommy."

I worried about Lily being alone with her mother and wanted to be there with her but knew better than to attempt to intervene. I also wanted to know what Mrs. Potter had to say to her daughter that couldn't be said in front of me. Of course, in the end I needn't have worried because every heated word could be heard through the rather thin door.

"And how am I supposed to believe that anything you say is true, Lily?" Mrs. Potter said. "After last night?"

"Why would I lie to you?"

"Maybe for the same reasons you have lied to me in the past."

"Well than you should have brought some Veritaserum! Shouldn't you!" Lily huffed.

"Don't take that tone with me young lady!" Mrs. Potter snapped back.

"Well than maybe you shouldn't have come bursting in."

"You are in enough trouble already. Don't make it worse for yourself." Mrs. Potter threatened.

"What could you possibly do to me? Huh?" Lily was headed for big trouble as far as I could tell and I was sure that she was going to drag me down with her.

"You know very well how long stunts like this will get you grounded. And that means no boyfriends. What will Remus do without you for so long? Young love can be so very troublesome, can't it?"

"And what would possibly make you say he's my boyfriend?" This statement alone was enough to make me downhearted. It might be possible that she really wanted me to be her boyfriend but it was just a hope. I had let myself get too close and gain too much hope already. I shouldn't let myself acquire any more, no matter how many times a half asleep Lily kisses me.

"Maybe it's the fact that you were naked and in bed with him getting all cuddly before my eyes." Mrs. Potter sounded slightly sad while saying this. It hadn't occurred to me what getting close to Lils might do to her parents. They would be losing their little girl to some guy (even if it is little old me).

"So now we get down to it!" exclaimed Lily. "What's really troubling you."

"It does trouble me that my daughter is getting so attached to a guy at so young an age."

"Yeah because your one to talk!" snorted Lily.

"This isn't about me. It's about you," snapped Mrs. Potter.

"Well maybe you should be brought into it," snapped back Lily.

"Your father and I didn't have some kind of infatuation. We were in love. There is a huge difference."

"I am not infatuated Mommy," said Lily in a softer and calmer voice. Her statement was followed closely by a brief laugh from Mrs. Potter.

Very suddenly their voices got too soft to hear through the doorway and although I could tell that they were having a conversation, I was unable to decipher what it was. I moved close to the door and pressed my ear against it, but still nothing. I kept straining to hear a word they were saying and was rewarded with ringing ears when Mrs. Potter yelled at the top of her lungs. "Get out here Remus."

I gave my ears a quick rub and then opened the door and walked into the outer room. Apparently whatever had gone on in the near silent conversation had drastically improved matters. Mrs. Potter still looked mad, but not pissed as she had before. I looked towards where my Lils was standing and found she had dressed in her clothes from the night before. She shot me a quick smile that helped to ease my nerves (she probably knew I would need the smile. She is so courteous, my Lily is).

Feeling slightly self-conscious again from my lack of clothing, I grabbed my shirt from off the floor and put it on. Feeling slightly better with my shirt on I dared to approach the subject that the two women had evidentially just closed. "So are we good with the whole sleeping together but not sleeping together thing?" I gave a hopeful glance to Lily before focusing on her mom.

Mrs. Potter frowned but gave me good news, "I will look over your sleeping arrangements from last night under the condition that it doesn't happen again." The next look I got thrown was a very obvious 'or else'.

"And now we are going to go to St. Mungo's where my husband is currently staying after his … fall." Mrs. Potter gave me an evil glare when she said the word fall. It was clear she was angry with me for injuring her husband. "He will help dole out Lily's punishment and then I will take you home Remus where your own parents can deal with you."

I felt really downtrodden. Lily and I had broken away from our parents early this morning only to come back under their control mere hours later. I briefly thought about refusing again, but the phrase 'resistance is futile' comes to mind when looking at Ginny Potter. Due to this, all I managed was a weak, "okay."

Every time I enter the visitor's entrance to St. Mungo's I can't help smiling and giggling to myself. It's just some weird natural reaction I have. Not without good reason mind you. I mean, you walk up and ask this butt ugly mannequin if you're allowed in. Then the butt ugly thing nods and winks at you. And then after all that, you get to walk through the mannequin which feels like walking through a waterfall without getting wet. Call me immature, but I find that funny.

Today caused no different a reaction from me, but definitely a muted one. Lily also gets a kick out of this particular entrance and managed to give me a quick smile when we stepped into the waiting room. The waiting room wasn't busy today, but there was still one old geezer hiccupping bubbles that I found entertaining. Mrs. Potter didn't stop to ask what room her husband was in, but strode purposefully forward to his room. I was inclined to get sulkier the closer we got towards Lily's demise. On the other hand, Lily seemed to gain courage or poise or something because she was standing up straighter and had a determined look on her face when we reached the room.

The thing you realize early about Lils is that she has (how I'm not sure) almost complete control over the men in her life. This means that if she had to face down her father (as she did yesterday after the rain incident) she can usually wheedle her way out of serious punishment or any punishment at all. However, Mrs. Potter caught on to this uncanny ability of her daughter's relatively early in Lily's life and has tried her best to be a presence in all punishment dealing. Why Ginny tries to get her husband involved in the dealing of their daughter's punishment at all is a mystery to me. But, back to the point. Maybe it was because she was going to see her daddy that Lily had gained her sudden confidence.

When we reached Mr. Potter's room I had resigned myself to the fact that I would have to wait in the hall while the Potters shared words and then Mrs. Potter came to take me back to my doom (I didn't even want to think what my parents were going to do to me. I was too busy worrying about Lily anyway). However, when Ginny and Lily entered the room Ginny gestured for me to follow. This could not be good.

Apparently Mr. Potter hadn't broken anything in his tumble or if he had it had been healed very quickly. From what it looks like, the only reason he was still in the hospital was so the healers could watch his minor concussion. He was, for all points and purposes, being treated like royalty and something of a regular at the hospital (which I will state is practically true: the Potters are pretty much wizarding royalty and Mr. Potter was a frequenter of the hospital – what with his job and all).

Mr. Potter sat up when we entered the room and looked slightly relieved to see us. "Princess," he said opening his arms so Lily could give him a hug which she did.

"I'm so sorry daddy," Lily said softly in his embrace (out of nowhere I got a twinge of jealousy, wanting to hug Lils also). "I didn't want you to get injured or to get into a fight, but I just wanted to make things up with Remus."

"What's done is done Honey. There is nothing, well almost nothing, we can do to take it back," Mr. Potter came back. "Just know that you have to deal with the consequences of such hasty actions." Mr. Potter spoke all of this calmly and with love. There was no trace of anger or sternness to his voice. I glanced over to Mrs. Potter to find a frown on her face as if she would rather her husband was yelling.

"Dear," Ginny said urging her husband onward. I was really wondering why I was here.

"Right. Now Princess, the things you and Remus did last night were wrong as you very well know," Mr. Potter started to get that stern tone to his voice but his face showed he would rather not be the one to issue the sentence. "Although your aunt managed to get you out of the legal troubles, that doesn't mean you have escaped punishment. Your mother and I decided this morning that you are to be grounded for a week and no allowance for a month."

Lily's parents seemed to be prepared for some kind of outcry or tantrum from their daughter, but it didn't come. Lils looked very resigned to the sentence and seemed to actually agree with it. She nodded sadly in her spot on her dad's bed. "Okay daddy." Lily looked at her mom, "Can we go home so I can get started?"

Ginny seemed genuinely surprised by the attitude her daughter was taking (as was I. Although maybe she did feel like she was getting just rewards for her actions). "Umm. Sure Lily," she said. "There's just one more thing we need to discuss with your father. Harry we need to talk about Remus." Ah, so this was what I was brought in for – because they needed to talk about me (what did they need to say in regards to me though?). "When I went to get these two this morning, I found …"

That was the farthest Mrs. Potter got though, because at that moment Lily had bolted up, hands stretched out and yelled, "Mommy No!" I, needless to say, was kind of shocked by this reaction. Then it hit me. Ginny wanted to talk about our 'compromising position' in the bed. My legs just about gave out when I realized this and Mr. Potter's warning words from the night before came clearly to my mind: _'Oh and another thing. If your eyes come close to seeing Lily naked again, I would watch your back because I will be there and it won't be pretty.'_

I was dead. I was so very dead. Mr. Potter was looking confused, glancing from his daughter to his wife. Then his eyes traveled the distance to me and saw the fear that had to be apparent on my face. It only seemed to take him a second to process before he was sitting up very straight and grabbing his wand from the bedside table. Lily jumped in front of her father yelling again, "Daddy No! It's not what you think!"

"Than what is it?" Mr. Potter's face was in a very frighteningly angry scowl.

"It's my fault. Not Remmie's. Take it out on me."

"Ginny take Remus home. I'm about to have a serious talk with my daughter."

Mrs. Potter nodded and then strode out of the room. I couldn't follow her fast enough. I hated to leave Lily alone in there but I was perfectly aware that she could handle her father. In fact she could probably handle him better without me there.

My mother and father seemed to be waiting for me when Mrs. Potter and I arrived at my house. They were trying to pull off scary angry faces, but only partially succeeding because, let's admit it, my parents can't get that scary (not like those Potters at any rate). Nonetheless I was still kind of frightened as to what my sentence would be (Lily's was a week and that was bad enough).

"Ginny," my mother said courteously, nodding at Mrs. Potter.

"Ginny," said my dad, throwing her a quick grin.

Then my parents turned their full attention on me. My father beckoned for me to come forward while my mother led Mrs. Potter back to the fireplace making small talk and thanking her for bringing me back home. My dad led me into the living room with a firm grasp on my shoulder. He sat me down on the center of the couch and crossed his arms. When my mom entered the living room and came to stand by my dad in front of me I knew I was going to get a Talk.

I decided to cut the head off this particular snake before it could bite me (in other words: I was sick of getting told what I did wrong when I perfectly well knew). "Mom," I said. "Dad. I am sorry about what went down, but I had to be loyal to Lily. She's my best friend and frankly I don't even know what we were thinking. Still I know what we did was wrong and I'm willing to take whatever I have coming." I bowed my head and threw out my arms (always a dramatic persona). "Give it to me."

I glanced up quick to see that my parent's frowns had only grown. Apparently they had wanted very much to give me the Talk and I had stolen that chance from them. "This is a very serious matter, son," said my dad sternly.

"I know dad."

"Well than take it like it is!"

"I am taking it seriously, but I know what I did wrong and I just want to skip to the punishment part of the Talk."

"Fine, as you wish," said my mom (who is really just too much of a softy, too much of a Hufflepuff, to be argumentative).

My dad took over, "You are grounded for ten days. That means no leaving your room, none of your muggle things, no talking to your friends, nothing. Also if you pull this stunt again, you will be kicked out of the DA. This is not the behavior we expect from you. All you pranks at school and the things you do there are one thing, but this time you broke the law!"

"We are very disappointed in you," added my mother.

I wasn't surprised with what I got, but it still irritated me that my dad would make that threat about the DA. Dumbledore's Army was a huge and very important part of my life. He couldn't take it away from me. But then again, he probably could. I guess I'll have to behave (or at least keep my wrongdoing secret) in the future. Ten days though! No Lils for ten days. It's gonna kill me. She only got grounded for a week, but then again she got her considerable allowance taken away (that really isn't an option for me 'cause I don't get an allowance to begin with).

Taking my parent's silence as my cue to leave, I stood up and hung my head. I walked out of the living room and to my room to begin my punishment.

**A/N:** So this chapter was just kind of a filler chapter and the next one might be too (I'll have to wait and see where it ends up). But after that I'm pretty sure I'll hit a major plot point (I'll let you stir over that one). Reviews are to a writer as a high price cognac is to an alchoholic. Please give this writer his bottle!  
--Chris


	9. Wow

_**Disclaimer:** If you could hear my voice, you would be able to tell it is definitely not British (which happens to be the nationality of the author of the Harry Potter series: JKR). I find that I also have to disclaim that I do not own golden eyed vampires, that little gem belongs to miss Stephanie Meyer.  
**A/N: **This chapter is about twice as long as I originally intended. I didn't really want to split this chapter up so here it is. And also like I promised at some point in the past, this chapter brings a major plot line into focus. But you don't want to listen to my thoughts so... Get to it!  
_

_The girl was standing across from me, a good ten to fifteen yards away (I really don't have any distance perception – it could have been a hundred yards for all I could tell, of course that's just sarcasm talking). She was, there really was no other way to put it, stunningly gorgeous. Her super pale features were accented by clothes that could only be the most expensive designer fashion in the muggle world. She stared at me through, strange as it may sound, golden colored eyes._

_The girl had to be around the age of a sixteen year old, but she seemed to have a maturity about her features. Her head tilted as she looked at me in a kind of crouch that seemed very defensive. She visibly sniffed the air and I've got to be honest, if kind of creped me out (you'd be creped out to if it looked like this girl could smell you at twenty paces). The girls eyes clouded for just a second and she let out a high pitched laugh, a beautiful melody like that of bells._

_"What could you possibly do with that stick boy?" she said and let out a giggle. She stood up straighter and started to very slowly walk, her movements almost a dance, toward me. For some reason my gut instincts went off and were like 'danger, danger.' In response to these instincts I pulled out my wand and this drew a laugh from the girl. It suddenly occurred to me that I was pointing a stick at her just like she said._

_"D-don't come any closer," I stammered out, trying and failing to sound confident._

_The girl stopped and tilted her head. She smiled at me and said, "Come now, you must know what I am. Don't you have any inclination as to what I could do to you?"_

_I wasn't entirely sure what she meant but something in the back of my mind said 'vampire' and right after that the same portion said 'get out of there – dangerous.'_

_Following the orders out of the back of my mind I started to quickly walk backward and prepared to fire off a spell. In the blink of an eye the girl was standing right in front of me, still smiling. "Leaving so soon?" she said. "You do smell so very wonderful, it's very hard to resist."_

_I continued to stumble backward and concentrated on casting a non-verbal stunning spell. Suddenly the girl pounced pushing me to the ground and her mouth going towards my neck…._

I woke up in a cold sweat. Immediately my right hand went to my neck as if to check that it was still there and not bleeding. No puncture marks, so I'm okay. As consciousness flooded back to me, I checked my surroundings. In bed? Check. In my room? It's a little dark, but I think so. Check. Just a dream? Of course.

I breathed deeply trying to calm myself down. These ridiculous dreams had been plaguing me for the past few nights now. Always the same: some gorgeous, golden eyed monster finds me in a forest and then attacks me so fast that I don't have time to defend myself. I'm not sure why I get these dreams. They seem really random: especially since vampires definitely don't have golden eyes (I have taken Defense Against the Dark Arts you know).

If I wanted to get all meaningful I could listen to Old Batty (otherwise known as Professor Trelawney). I'm sure that that crazy old lady could come up with some pile of dung as to what these dreams mean. But I'm not going down that road. I have my own theory as to why I'm having strange and ludicrous dreams: I'm Lily deprived.

But that deprivation is almost over. Today is my last day of being grounded. Yeah!!!!!! I've got to tell you that this past week and a half was probably one of the lowest points of my life. My parents went all out on the grounding. I couldn't come out of my room for anything other than bathroom breaks, I couldn't send or receive letters, my cell phone was taken away, my wand was taken away, my TV and Playstation 4 (a gift from Lils) were taken away, every possible fun activity was removed from me. So what did I end up doing you ask? Homework! How ludicrous. I was so bored that I not only managed to finish all my homework, but I also managed to read all the way through The Standard Book of Spells Grade 5 and Defensive Magic for Dangerous Times: Volume 5 (by Harry Potter and Ron Weasley). I am not a Ravenclaw dang nab it! I don't read things before they are assigned.

Of course over that entire week I was pining for my Lils. I couldn't help it. The last time we were away from each other for so long was when we were three years old. I just need my Lily to climb out of this depression I'm in. And to think, she got through with her grounding two days ago. I'm so jealous.

A knock came at my door. "Honey?" my mom called. "Why don't you come down for breakfast."

"Okay," I was quick to acknowledge. I get to go out of my room! So far my mom has been bringing me my meals in my room. Bless her soft heart for starting to release me from my prison a whole day early.

I bounded down the stairs to the kitchen of our moderately sized house. "Mumsy," I said, embracing my mother as she stood in front of the stove. My mother smiled back at me before giving me a wink and jerking her head in the direction of my father sitting behind her at the end of the table.

"Remus," she said sternly in a contrast to her loving features. "Don't think that sucking up will get you out of your punishment a day early."

I looked around my mother to my father who was frowning while looking at the Daily Profit. He glanced up quick to where I was still hugging my mom and shook his head. "Morning Remus," he said stiffly.

"Morning Daddio," I smiled back, unable to contain this new found enthusiasm. Amazing how simply escaping your prison can change your entire mood. "Anything new in the news?"

My mother turned around, her face reversing from one of joy to one of sadness. "Yes, Neville, have there been any more attacks?"

My dad visibly slumped and folded up his paper. "Harry has still managed to hide them from the paper, thank goodness," he said before folding his hands and looking up at my mother and me.

I was extremely confused. What attacks? Mind you I have been out of the loop for nine whole days, but you'd think my parents would have told me if there had been attacks.

My dad coughed and then said, "I got a report from Harry last night. There have been five separate incidents now. The last two have been killings."

"What?" I questioned loudly. "Who got killed and by who? What's going on?"

"Somebody has been attacking muggles," my dad said. "We aren't sure who's behind it, but Harry has called an Order meeting for tonight."

"You really think it's that much of a danger?"

"Probably not, but it's better to get everybody in the loop."

"So do we leave Remus here?" my mom piped in.

"Hmmm," my dad looked at me ponderingly. "I guess not. We'll take him over to the Potter's place."

Suddenly I wasn't thinking about the poor muggles anymore (horrible as it may sound, but if you mourned over every stranger that dies than you'd never be happy. I'm sure Mr. Potter will catch the lunatic doing this and chuck him in jail for a very long time). The only thing that I could think about now was the fact that I would be seeing Lily tonight. Lily! Lily! Lily! Lily!

My mom put breakfast on the table as I tried to keep my excitement from reaching the surface (my dad would probably think twice about letting me go if he saw how happy it was making me).

There was a sudden whooshing sound from the kitchen fireplace and the kitchen was submersed in green light for a second. Looking around my mum, I saw that Mrs. Potter's head had appeared in the fireplace. She appeared to be rather stressed and harassed as she glanced towards the three of us. Her hair was frizzy and there was a dirt streak on her cheek.

"Ginny!" exclaimed my mother. "What's going on?"

Mrs. Potter just laughed crazily. How odd. She continued to break down (I guess you could call it) until my father went over to her head, stuffed a piece of toast in her mouth, and grabbed her face between his hands. "Ginny," he said sternly. "Get a grip on yourself."

Mrs. Potter seemed to snap out of it and chewed through the toast so she could speak. "I'm sorry Neville, Hannah. It's just that I've had rather an unnerving morning."

"What's happened?" asked my mother while going over to crouch in front of the fireplace. I followed her so I could see Lily's mother proclaim what could only be news that would somehow affect my time with my Lils.

"Well it really started last night when Harry brought home the news of those muggle killings. James was actually home and in the room when he was explaining what happened. They were nasty murders apparently. When Harry said the location of the second murder James freaked out. Like totally lost it. Murmuring lots of gibberish that I couldn't understand and tried to apparate right out of our own living room. Thankfully Harry managed to seize him before he could get away and we got him cooled down enough to tell us what was wrong."

Mrs. Potter took a large breath at this point and subsequently went into a large coughing fit from the ash she inhaled. When she recovered she went on, "Well that's when the bombshell struck. Apparently James is engaged! Engaged! Can you believe it. Not even an entire summer out of school and he's already going to get married. It would seem that he met this nice muggle girl vacationing near here last summer and they fell in love over the course of the season. James was using Teddy as a mailman over the school year, transferring letters from owl post to muggle post and back again. He's Only Eighteen! She's Only Nineteen!" Mrs. Potter was in full rant mode by now. "They both just graduated from school! Engaged! Humph." Mrs. Potter took another large breath (although managed to avoid the coughing fit). "Oh and here's the kicker Neville, Hannah. The girl doesn't even know what we are! She doesn't know James is a wizard. She doesn't know that his family are wizards. And He Is Bringing Her to Stay at our House!"

My dad grabbed Lily's moms face again. "Get a grip Ginny. Explain it to us slowly."

Mrs. Potter took a few calming breaths before continuing. "Okay, I'm good. Anyway. James is bringing her to stay at our house because the apartment that she is living in is not far from where the last murders occurred. James was going to explain our world to her soon anyway, but he decided to do it tonight to keep her safe from lunatics. You know, I have him stunned in the living room so he can't run away while I'm talking to you. I'm not done with him yet." I grimaced (you just don't want to be on the other side of Mrs. Potter's temper).

"I guess that brings me back to why I'm here. Tonight is going to be extra crazy because not only are we meeting Katelyn, James girlfr—I mean fiancé, for dinner, but Dudley Dursley and that American witch he married, Sarah, and their daughter are coming over also. Their daughter, Rebecca, just got accepted to go to Hogwarts and they want to celebrate. So I guess that brings me back to you guys. Although I would like to keep this dinner to as few people as possible so that we don't freak Katelyn out, I really need Remus to come and restrain Lily. If he isn't there I know my daughter will bombard the poor girl with questions and she doesn't need that kind of stress. So if you guys could come over for dinner I would really appreciate it."

"Of course Ginny," said my mother. "Anything to help. What time would you like us?"

"If you could send Remus over at four that would be great. And then you guys can follow at around six."

"We'll see you then," said my dad.

"Alright Neville. Thanks a heap guys."

My parents made me stay in my room for the rest of the morning and into the afternoon, but I was perfectly fine with that. All my thoughts were on seeing Lily tonight. An entire night with her. And then the next day. And the next day. And so on and so forth. I spent the time I had getting ready (choosing my clothes, taking a shower, packing my pockets with my wand, extendable ears, and select other essential joke merchandise).

At long last three fifty five arrived. I walked down the stairs and my mom gave me a hug to send me on my way. I flooed to the Potter's house. Upon arriving, I staggered out of the fireplace, trying not to fall over and then was clobbered to the floor by something with long red hair.

"Remmie!" Lily yelled at me while hugging me on the floor.

"Lily!" I yelled back, wrapping my own arms around her, loving the feel of being with her.

"Lily! Remus!" yelled Mrs. Potter. "Get out here. They are coming down the driveway."

When Lily and I arrived on the front porch, James and his fiancé were indeed coming down the driveway in a car (a Porsche 911 turbo, but don't ask me how I knew that. Alright! So I've read a few muggle car magazines. So sue me). The car that the girl was driving pulled up the gravel and parked in front of the house since there was no garage. James stepped out and his fiancé did also and we got our first look at her. She was very, very pretty (although she had nothing on Lily) with shoulder length curly red hair (snort, red hair. Of course), long legs, and bright blue eyes that lit up her entire face. It was easy to see how James could be instantly drawn to her.

James' fiancé (Katelyn I had to remind myself) looked nervous as James walked around the car and gave her a hug. He whispered in her ear and proceeded to lead her up towards the porch. She made an attempt to compose herself and plastered a smile on her face as she glided up the front steps. When they were in front of us James made the introductions, "Mom, Dad this is my fiancé, Katelyn. Katelyn, this is my mom Ginny," Katelyn held her hand out, but Mrs. Potter gave her a hug, "my dad Harry," only a handshake, "my younger brother Albus," another handshake (Lily was practically bouncing up and down at this point and I had to work to hold her down), "and my sister Lily and her future husband Remus." James smirked at us as Lily and I sent up protests (mine not overly truthful), but Lily's was short lived because she ran up and engulfed Katelyn in a huge hug.

"You're going to be my sister!" Lily said excitedly.

"Lily," I yelled, running after her and pulling her off the poor girl, but it seemed to be okay because Katelyn was hugging Lily back and giggling. Oh no, I thought, these two should not get together. That would be dangerous. Two seconds and they are already bonding. After a little bit I did manage to pry Lily away from Katelyn and held my hand out to shake hers. I also felt a need to mention (despite the breaking of mine heart), "James was only joking, Lils and I are just best friends."

Katelyn shook my hand, smiled and spoke her first words, "James really is the jokester."

"Well let's not stand out in the heat and humidity," said Mrs. Weasley. "Everybody come inside." As James walked past, Ginny whispered in his ear, "Have you told her anything yet?" James just returned a shrug and a shake of the head. Well this was going to be an awkward conversation.

When everyone had walked through the doorway but Lils, Ginny, and me, Ginny threw Lily a withering glare and me a begging stare saying, "Don't do anything rash," and "Please restrain her," respectively.

I gave Mrs. Potter a quick salute as she walked through the door and Lily giggled appropriately. "Yes sir," I mumbled and Lily giggled harder. I looked down at Lils before grabbing her around the waist and placing my hand over her mouth.

"Hey!" she mumbled through my hand.

"I'm just doing what your dear mumsy wanted."

Lily said something else in protest but it just came out sounding like, "mmm-mm-mmmm-m-mmmm."

"Now Lils," I argued back. "Are you going to behave yourself or am I going to have to tickle you? And yes I do know that you are ticklish and I know in exactly which spots too." Oh dear lord, that came out sounding really flirtatious.

Lily shot a glance up at me and I could feel the smirk beneath my hand. This cannot be good. "Ewwww," I shouted. Lils licked my palm. Disgusting … and strangely sexy. No! Don't think like that. Over to my side Lily was spluttering, trying to spit out the taste of my hand.

"Nasty Remmie."

"Hey you were the one that chose to lick me, remember?"

"Lily, Remus! Get your butts in here!"

I jerked my head towards the house and we walked back in. It was only now I realized how barren, at least this part of the house looked. All things even remotely magical had been covered up or moved. Apparently the Potters had gone all out to make sure they didn't scare James' fiancé away before the situation could be explained. Lily and I walked into the formal living room that was closest to the entryway and I took a seat in an oversized armchair while Lils stretched out on my lap. It seemed as if they had been waiting for us before they explained anything. James and Katelyn were sitting on the loveseat to the right of Lily's and my chair with Ginny, Mr. Potter and Albus sitting across from them on a couch.

James looked really nervous and worried, as if explaining this part of his life would ruin his chances with his future wife. Of course, maybe it would. "So, uh, honey," James started, holding his fiancé's hand and looking into her face. "Remember how I said I had some big and, uh, startling news to tell you about me and my family? How it would be scary at first but would actually turn out to be a really good thing?"

It was just adorable to see how Katelyn's face and body melted when James looked at her like that and spoke to her in that soft voice. Then she ruined it by talking back in a accusatory, but still overly joking fashion (yep, those are two peas in a pod. I'll bet she was a real rabble rouser in school; as great grandma Longbottom used to say). "Of course I remember, you baboon. You just told me an hour ago in the car."

Lily snorted. She, at least, seemed to be taking to Katelyn right off the bat (of course Lils had some rather affectionate names for James also; although I don't believe baboon was one of them).

"Right, well you know I haven't had my daily banana" said James back with a big smile and he loosened his neck and shoulders like a boxer getting ready for a fight. The two lovebirds proceeded to rub noses before sharing a quick kiss.

Ginny seemed to want to get the show on the road because she took the initiative. "Katelyn, dear, James was being completely serious. We really don't want to frighten you, but this is huge news we are about to share." Mr. Potter just nodded right beside his wife and Albus looked lost in thought.

Katelyn composed herself in what she apparently thought was a serious expression, but still looked like she wanted to kid around. "Alright, I'm ready. What's the big news?"

Everybody looked at James. "Katelyn, honey, my family and I are witches and wizards," he said after a big breath and looking very somber.

Katelyn glanced around, obviously thinking this was some kind of stunt James was pulling. "Riiiight," she said. "And I'm a space alien."

"Ah-hem," Mr. Potter seemed to be taking the initiative now seeing as how he is the only one with experience in this area (that is the being told about witches and wizards area). "This isn't a joke Katelyn. I know it's going to be hard to believe, but it is true. We can give you examples of magic if you want them. Anything you need to understand, just say it."

Katelyn looked at James again, this time the laughter completely gone from her eyes. She didn't look afraid or accusing, not like she wanted to leave or dump her fiancé, more like she wanted to believe this was true, but could only do so if the person she loved proved it to her. "So you can do magic?" she asked.

"Yes," returned James, allowing himself some hope that this might actually pull through without major incident.

"Prove it," she said, the challenge evident.

"What kind of magic would you like to see?" said James pulling out his wand.

"Ah, you better let me son," said Mr. Potter, evidently worried that his prankster of a son would do something a little too overenthusiastic.

"Awww," said Katelyn laughing a little. "You have to use sticks to create magic?"

Albus was the one to snort this time. He went into a huge coughing fit in which the word 'wand' was easily distinguishable.

At this point Mr. Potter leaned down and dug his hand underneath the couch. He pulled out a dirty sock, a tangled slinky, and a pair of omnioculars (at which point Albus exclaimed "Hey, I've been looking for those") before he seemed to find what he was searching for. Katelyn was watching him with amusement and Ginny with revulsion (apparently she was under the impression that her house was clean before now).

The next thing that Mr. Potter pulled out from under the couch was something I have reason to believe he placed there today in preparation for this talk. The thing was a small, clear, glass canning jar with a brilliant purple flame that bounced around while the jar was being hauled up, but settled to the bottom when Mr. Potter held it steady. The flame was something I was very familiar with (a clever little device of Lily's aunt Hermione). It was a very handy piece of magic because of everything it could do. It warms you up on cold days, but can't burn your skin if you want to hold it; it creates plenty of light with the correct words or can dim to the light of dying embers; it doesn't rely on oxygen, so it can't be smothered; it also lasts for days without care; the one problem with the purple fire is that it can tend to have a mind of its own and likes to escape if you leave it out in the open without supervision (not that the fire spreads and sets other things alight, it just bounces and rolls away across the grounds; it is actually quite funny to watch).

Everyone in the room stared at the little purple flame for a while and finally Katelyn looked away and asked, "What is it?"

"Familiaris flamma," said Harry. Everyone but Albus and I looked confused (because we are just nerds that way and know the technical terms for things). Mr. Potter rolled his eyes at people's blank stares and said, "Friendly flame, people, come on! Hermione modified it."

A resounding "Ohhh," came from the wizards in the room. And Lily used her sarcastic tone, "Well of course we know what friendly flame is dad, honestly, but we can't all be know-it-alls like you."

Katelyn on the other hand still seemed confused. "So what on earth is friendly flame?" she asked.

"Well," began Albus, but that was all the farther he got because Lily shushed him.

"We would prefer the short version brainiac, not the dictionary version."

"Hey," objected Albus. "I don't memorize definitions. I'm not Aunt Hermione. Just because I get more O's than A's in my classes—"

"I get more O's then A's too!" interrupted Lils. "I'm not James."

"Hey!" started in James this time. "There is nothing wrong with good old fashioned E's and A's!"

"CHILDREN!" shouted Mrs. Potter and everybody got very quiet instantly (ah the affect that woman has, almost as potent as her mom, although I'm told Nana Weasley is going soft in her old age and she used to be a much more powerful personality than she is even now).

"Now Katelyn," Mr. Potter picked back up. "Friendly flame is just what it sounds like: a fire that is friendly or useful to the user. Like so," he said and screwed the top of the jar and poured the flame into his left hand. Katelyn gasped (probably thinking Mr. Potter was being burned) and the purple fire tried to bounce off Lily's dad's hand before he cupped his fingers to keep it in place (kind of like a glowing, writhing, purple ball). I've got to tell you that that little substance is like a drug to pyromaniacs everywhere and I felt my fingers itching to have a bit of it myself.

James' fiancé was probably still trying to wrap her head around what she was seeing. I mean I still can't completely wrap my skull around things like com.. compu… umm seattops? no, it's labtops, no laptops! That's it. Yeah, those muggle devices. The TV and PS4 I have at home are still amazing to me and I've had them for a year now. So I guess this magic stuff must be really different to a muggle.

"Wow," murmured Katelyn. "What all can it do?" she asked a little louder. As more and more time passed and Katelyn didn't go screaming from the house, James' smile grew larger. This was going way better than all of us expected.

"Oh lots of things," said Mr. Potter. "Obviously you can hold it. Would you like to?"

"Sure," Katelyn answered looking excited (she looked just like muggle first years that come to Hogwarts and see magic for the first time). The fire got passed around the room (it was a bitch having to continue passing it) and Katelyn experienced her first touch with magic. She had a little trouble keeping a hold of the pesky little flame at first, but seemed to pick up on the correct way to handle it very quickly. "And to think," she said in a whisper that nonetheless carried around the silent room, "all this time I've been reading about magic in fantasy books and wishing it was real. And it was always right there out of reach." She looked at James with adoring eyes, "Until you came along. Whoops!" In the minute amount of time she spent focusing on James instead of the flame, it managed to wriggle out of her grasp.

The flame bounced off the side of the loveseat onto the ground and proceeded to roll around the floor, bumping into things in its quest for freedom. Multitudes of people dove after the flame (me being one of them, unceremoniously dumping poor Lils on the floor, but she got me back by tripping me and causing me to fall into the coffee table which hurt. A lot). Mr. Potter finally managed to scoop it back into its jar by trapping it in the corner of the room.

"Sorry. I'm sooo sorry!" Katelyn exclaimed.

"It's okay dear," said Mrs. Potter. "You didn't do any harm, it's just those two barbarians who took a chunk out of my antique coffee table." She pointed behind her back to where Lily and I had gotten into a wrestling match after I had recovered from my encounter with said table (and I was winning by the way, being on top of her and all (in a very nonsexual way). Not that I'm particularly good at holding her down. Man can that girl squirm out of things).

"Lily! Remus!" Mrs. Potter shouted suddenly turning on us. "Am I going to have to separate you two?"

Lily and I broke apart immediately (me rubbing my stomach where Lils had punched it in order to snag the on top position). One of the thing you learn about Ginny Potter is that when she makes threats (a.k.a. questions in the form of threats) she means business. If she says she may need to separate two hooligans, she will. And in a hurry. And said hooligans will be far apart for a very long time. Thus the need to rapidly stop our little match.

All of a sudden Lily shouted, "Ring!"

I was confused. "What?" I questioned.

Lily looked at Katelyn. "Let's see the rock." And with that Mrs. Potter and Lily converged on Katelyn and they started some of that perplexing girl talk that involved things like Katelyn's ring, Ginny's ring, what Lily wanted in a ring, not to mention weddings, etc., etc.

I, on the other hand, can't follow a conversation when girls get all … well, girly and hyper and giggly. So I went over to where the guys had sidled together. This conversation included things more like how much did you pay for the ring, what was the quality of the diamond, was that actually a Porsche 911 and yeah… (once the car got brought up, it became the center of attention. Mr. Potter raised his kids (and thus me 'cause I spent so much time over) to have a healthy respect for muggles and even though we may not follow 95% of muggle junk, cars spark our interest).

The conversation went something like: "So how much did the rock set you back?"

"I managed to grab it for 400 galleons."

Low wistle.

"What did that price get ya for a diamond?"

"Well the center piece is only a three-quarter carat but it's surrounded by a few .15 carat diamonds. Of course the ring was only about a tenth the price of the car."

"That car is a beauty."

"Isn't it though? I got it for her half as an engagement present and half because her birthday was yesterday."

"I hear it can go zero to a sixty in 4 flat."

And so on and so forth for about a half an hour.

"Well everybody," called Mrs. Potter near the six o'clock hour. "Company should be showing up for dinner in a matter of minutes so kids go wash up."

Lily and I groaned. We didn't like washing our hands for dinner, sanitary or not.

Right as I was toweling off my hands the front door rang. "Remmie," yelled Lily from the entryway. "Your parents are here."

"Alright," I shouted back as I heard Mr. Potter ushering them into the living room. As I was walking back towards the front of the house I saw Hugo and Pixie spin into place in a fireplace. And they were embracing. No SNOGGING (flooing and snogging at the same time. Now that's a trick. I'm eternally surprised that they didn't take a dump out of the wrong fireplace). "What the hell?" I screeched.

Hugo hastily withdrew his hand from under Pixie's shirt (where it had been working its way up to you know where) and Pixie removed her hand from his arse. "Oh hello Remus," squeaked Pixie, taking a small step back from Hugo, but still holding on to him. Hugo on the other hand just turned a nasty dark shade of red and looked sheepish. Pixie continued when I didn't say anything (their relationship, while not innocent over a week ago, seemed to have proceeded to groping very rapidly). "Long time no see. How was your grounding?"

"Errr," was all I was able to utter at first (I mean come on, who really wants to see their friends in that position. Well I don't at least). Finally I was able to form a coherent enough thought in order to speak. "Uh, dull."

Then the situation came to me and I managed a question, "So what brings you two lovebirds here? Shouldn't you have made the stop at the Leaky Cauldron for a room?"

Hugo turned, if at all possible, an even darker shade of red and even Pixie managed a blush (which sent my mind a wanderin' 'cause Pixie doesn't blush. Oh, she can do embarrassed pretty well, but blushing? Not usually). "We're here for food," managed Hugo.

"Did Diagon Alley run out and you had to come begging so you don't get hungry with all the roughhousing you two will be doing tonight?" I asked in full sarcasm mode.

Pixie abruptly got stern, "Now that's enough Remus. Our sex life is none of your business. And Lily invited us for supper for your information."

The only thing that really seemed to compute came blurting out, "You two have a sex life?" And then, "Disgusting, I sooo did not need to know that." I wasn't of course grossed out by the idea (they were big kids, they could make their own decisions) and I also knew that while I might not need to know the info, I would have eventually heard references from Hugo. You know, man to man.

Pixie just grunted and threw up her arms in exasperation. I couldn't resist one more egging on. "Tell your parents, I should," I said trying to mimic the voice of one of my favorite characters of all time (Yoda for those of you who couldn't figure it out). Of course my nudging may have gone a little too far. Pixie lost it (kind of, I mean it is impossible for Pix to really lose it; at least not in the way Lils can). Nonetheless I found myself inches from Pixie's face as Hugo held her back.

"We are NOT having sex! There is nothing to tell. I swear you've changed if your making such threats Remus."

"Okay, Okay," I stuttered out taking a few steps back. "I'm sorry. Geez. It was just a joke."

"It's alright bro," Hugo replied as Pix visibly calmed over the span of a few seconds. "She's just a little touchy about the parent bit. They don't seem to be the most supportive of our relationship."

"Remus!" came a call from the foyer.

"Coming," I bellowed back. I gestured towards the front of the house and Hugo and Pixie trotted that direction in front of me holding hands. Ah, young love.

"Hugo, Pixie," gasped a confused looking Mrs. Potter. "What are you doing here?"

"I invited them mommy," Lily said skipping into the rapidly filling foyer. "I hope you don't mind."

Mrs. Potter's face became dark, forming a scowl (yikes, duck and cover. Duck And Cover). "How many times do I have to tell you young lady to ask me before inviting friends over?" Ginny's voice rising every word.

(Now I never thought I'd say this but…) Luckily Mr. Potter stepped into the room. He made his way to his wife and laid a hand on her shoulder. Mrs. Potter's hands clenched and unclenched once before the doorbell rang. I made my way into the living room, dragging Lils behind me. James was entertaining his fiancé by making unpopable bubbles blossom out of his wand along with the occasional multicolored smoke ring (and who could ever say those kinds of charms were useless). Albus' own girlfriend seemed to have made her way over while I was absent and they were making googley eyes with each other. Lils and I occupied the same chair as before while Hugo and Pix made their way to a chair on the other side of the room.

"Harry!" I heard Uncle Dudley's voice come from the entryway (I had learned to call him uncle along with Lily. Kind of odd seeing how I don't call any of the Weasleys aunt or uncle).

"Hey Big D." came Mr. Potter's enthusiastic voice from the same direction (I heard tell that those two didn't like each other before The War, but that mystifies me because I've always seen them enjoying each other's company).

"Good evening Sarah. How are you doin'?" Mrs. Potter asked.

"Just dandy Ginny. Rebecca couldn't wait to come see you guys and tell you her big news," Dudley's wife replied in some kind of American accent (don't ask me which. All I know is it wasn't a southern drawl. I was also the tiniest bit confused because didn't Gin, and through her me, already know what Bec's big news was? Maybe our knowing was on the DL).

"Just so you know Sarah, we have a muggle in the house. So if you could keep the mischief to a minimum, then that would be great."

"Of course. Who is he?" queried Sarah.

"I'll let James introduce you to _her_."

"Hi Uncle Harry! Hi Aunt Ginny!" came Bec's ecstatic voice and I could just imagine her giving Mr. and Mrs. Potter big hugs. Me and Lils have grown fond of the girl four years younger than ourselves. You could say we've taken her under our wings when she has come over (Which is probably what caused her to get into monumental amounts of trouble).

Dudley and family came into the room followed closely by Lils' and my parents. Everybody was smiling and seemed to be in good spirits. Little Bec came running straight towards Lily and I and bounded on us in the chair. I grunted from the sudden extra weight but extended my arms to engulf her and Lily in a big hug. "Lily! Remus!" she squealed.

"Hey Becs. How's it hangin'?" I asked with a huge grin growing on my face. It was near impossible to be less than enthusiastic to see the girl: she was just so optimistic and enthused so much energy.

"Hey Bec," Lily said, managing to wiggle her hands around the kid.

"Yo! Aren't you going to greet your other cousins Becca?" called Albus from across the way, pouting playfully. "Or aren't you happy to see us." Add a big fake frown.

"Al!" yelled the girl, jumping off of us and bounding over to Albus and his girlfriend. Bec wrapped her arms around Albus and asked in a whisper that nonetheless carried, "Is she your girlfriend Al? She sure is pretty."

Albus laughed and introduced the girls, "Allison this is my little cousin Becca. Becca this is indeed my girlfriend Allison."

Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Katelyn was getting introduced to Dudley, Sarah, and my parents. "Hello. I'm Katelyn," Katelyn said to the four newcomers, extending her right hand to shake. Sarah, on the other hand, had other ideas.

"Oh-My-God. Is that a ring?" she yelped, reaching out and grabbing Katelyn's left hand and examining the piece of art gracing the sacred finger.

"Woooow," gasped my own mother, leaning in to get a good look herself. "That sure is a B. E. A. utiful ring."

I got a good look at Uncle Dudley then and I couldn't help but remember that photo I saw of him from when he was a teenager. You would barely be able to distinguish the picture from the man now. Dudley, while still being a broad man with little neck and blond hair, had lost the beefy-ness to pure muscle so that he didn't look that bulky anymore. He had also changed his haircut to a more radical style. It was clear that his wife, so like their daughter, had had a profound effect on him. Sarah was clearly American, though I can't really say how you can tell, but she was pretty with a rounded face, long, light brown hair, and a model-like figure. It was abundantly obvious that Rebecca had inherited both of their best features and would be stunning in a few years. As they say, she's going to be a heartbreaker.

"Got a hug for me too Becca?" asked James from around his fiancé. This led to Becs getting up and again bounding into another person.

"Always James," the girl practically cooed. James hugged the girl back and told her some lame joke about a hag, a banshee, and a troll. Becs nevertheless laughed at the joke (Becs loves anything to do with magic, even if it is retarded).

"So what's this big news the little birds have indicated to me?" I called across to Bec.

"Ohhhh, you'll never guess Remus." She said jumping up and down and clapping her hands. Before I had a chance to reply, she yelled, "I'm going to Hogwarts!"

"Congratulations," was cheered all around the room.

A young house elf came skidding into the room at that point. She came to a halt at Mr. Potter's heel and pulled on his trouser pants. "Master Harry," came her squeaky voice.

Mr. Potter smiled down at the elf. "Yes Kari?"

"Dinner is set, sir," replied the elf.

Mr. Potter found Kari about twelve years ago when he was out on Auror business. She was a mere five year old orphan at the time that didn't seem to already have a family. So Mr. Potter, being the Hermione fearing man that he is, brought the little girl home to care for her. At that time, the Potter's old (and I mean _old_) house elf, Kreacher, was still alive and took Kari under his wing to teach her the house elf ways and secrets. The sad thing is that Kreacher died only half a year after Kari arrived. Suffice to say, though, Kari was probably the most pampered and loved little girl house elf ever. But, despite Hermione's over the top and best efforts, Kari has become a true house elf (in other words she believes in the house elf ways and will probably serve the Potters for the rest of her life). Now days, though, Kari is a teenager (house elf lives being similar to humans) and while she may have her occasional bout of teenage rebellion she is determined to serve her loving masters to the fullest.

"Thank you Kari," said Mr. Potter. "The house looks nice so why don't you go try and beat my latest scores on the Xbox." Okay, so maybe Kari isn't anywhere near as hard-core as other house elves, but she does do what she is asked, is fiercely loyal, is fun to be around, and helps Mrs. Potter manage all the housework.

"Wait, Kari," put in Mrs. Potter. "If you could just clean out under that couch first, that would be great. I had a rather rude awakening as to what my children have done to it."

"Yes Miss," squeaked Kari and she disappeared in a flash. Not a whole minute later, as we all were making our way to the dining room, Kari reappeared with a tub that looked much too big for her and started digging under the couch and chucking junk into the tub.

Dinner was fun, but uneventful. The meal that was served was one of my favorites (hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, fries, etc. etc. It's just hard not to love the piles of greasy foods surrounding you). Conversation was rather disjointed and segmented into groups: Albus and his girlfriend fed each other and talked about seventh year things, James continued to introduce Katelyn to basic magic (things like levitating forks and refilling water glasses by wand), the adults' talk comprised mostly of small talk, but they did have a serious point where Mr. Potter explained the muggle incidents that would be the topic of discussion at the Order meeting later tonight, Becs, Hugo, Lily, Pix, and I talked mostly of magic and Hogwarts (the girl wanted to know everything: how it looked, what classes are like, what we like to do. We enjoyed teasing the girl with info, but withholding lots of the big surprises so she wouldn't know everything).

Near the end of the meal Lils managed to get me alone, per se, since everyone else was engaged in their own conversations and Pix and Hugo were entertaining Bec. "I've got a surprise for you later," Lily whispered with a smirk and a wink. My mind, being the dirty thing it is, went immediately to those memories of Lils and I alone and half naked in a bed. Bad Remus! Don't think like that.

So I, regretfully, shoved the memories out of consciousness and gave her a grin back. "I can't wait."

When eight o'clock approached it came time for Dudley, Sarah, and Rebecca to say goodbye. Becs gave hugs all around (even ones to Katelyn and Allison). Dudley and Sarah gave their well wishes for the night. Mrs. Potter, on the other hand, had a surprise for Bec when she came for her hug. "Before you go Rebecca, we got you a little congratulatory present."

Ginny pulled out a shoebox sized box wrapped in bright pink paper with broomsticks and bludgers printed on it. Becca grabbed for it immediately and tore the wrapping paper off. She squealed with delight (as did I) when she saw what was inside. It was the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes Essential Supplies for the School Miscreant. It was one of their most popular collections of merchandise and included everything from Skiving Snackboxes to a fake wand. That little gem of course didn't include the perfect arrangement of products, but then again it was filled with essential goodies.

"Thank you," said Becs. Sarah and Dudley didn't seem to be able to decide how to take this gift. Were the Potters turning their girl into a troublemaker before she even arrived?

Mr. Potter seemed to pick up on their mood. "Hey, D, troublemaking is an obligatory part of the Hogwarts school experience. You have to traverse the wrong side of the rules sometime. Or in others case, most of the time." He said that last part with a frown at us Rebels.

"If you say so Harry," Dudley replied, but I was sure he and his wife would warn Rebecca not to break any rules when they got home. "Come on Rebecca. We'll see these guys tomorrow when we go to get your things in Diagon Alley."

"Okay, bye," said Becca to everyone as she walked toward the front door, new package clutched tightly in hand. Everyone called bye back.

When Mr. Potter came back into the room after seeing the Dursleys off, my parents and Ginny had managed to get ready to go. He looked around the room at us younger beings and his eyes lingered on Lils and me for a full three seconds before moving on. "I want you all to behave tonight," he said very firmly. "We'll only be gone for a few hours and I know that you can't throw a proper party in that time. I'm leaving, however much I may come to regret it, James in charge. Kari has been instructed to watch you all and keep you in line. Anything else Dear?" he asked his wife.

"Here are the rules," she stated. "There is to be no getting into the liqueur cabinet, no drinking other alcohol, no roughhousing, no leaving the house, and definitely no sexual activity!" Well she did pretty much cover the basics (she also seems to realize that she has three teenaged couples and one non couple in the house. Hence the sex part).

After a general grunting acknowledgement of the rules from all parties, the parents flooed to Grimmauld Place (which is now being used almost exclusively for Order purposes. There is a room there that is stockpilied with magical weapons and defensive devices).

"You know my mom brought up a good point, that will have to be added to The Rulebook," said Lily. I just looked at the girl curiously (as did the rest of the room). She seemed to be waiting for someone to ask her what the Rule would be.

I was the first to give in, "So what Rule needs to become number 857?"

Lily smirked at Hugo and Pixie. "No Rebel is to have sex with another during sleep overs."

"Well that Rule is going to fail to achieve majority," shot back Pix. Then, as if to prove her point, she jumped on Hugo causing him to fall off his chair. And just like that they were all over each other again, hands roving and other things I didn't feel any need to watch (especially right after eating).

Albus and Allison apparently chose to take Hugo's and Pixie's activity as an example to be followed and they were all over each other next, Allison straddling Albus and her hands pulling through his hair. On the other hand, James and Katelyn didn't seem to feel the need to follow the flock of the cliff and James took Katelyn away to show her some cool magical objects (probably wants to explain Quidditch to her).

Through all this activity Lily's smile only grew. I could only guess that she had wanted to achieve this result. Although why, I have no clue.

Lils followed this showing by grabbing my hand and forcefully dragging me up the stairs. I just followed like a good boy, wondering if the surprise she wanted to show me was coming. "I didn't want anyone interrupting us," she said as we came to a halt outside of her dads study/the house library.

"Lils, what are we doing," I queried, totally confused.

"I've got something I want to show you," she said really excited. "Something I found." And with that she yanked me into the library and over to one of the sections filled with old looking books. Lily scanned the shelves and as she did she said, "It would seem that your namesake kept in depth records of The Marauders' heydays. And that would include…"

Lily pulled out an inch thick journal, brown in color, and containing a title hand written in silver ink. The Marauders' Guide to Becoming an Animagus by Mooney, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs.

Wow.

**A/N:** Okay, so I realize I committed a major blaspheme by including Twilight in a Harry Potter fanfic, but this should be the only reference and it will definitely not play a big part in the story. I also managed to create a minor cliff hanger (go me!). I hope I'm continuing to keep you guys interested. And along those lines I would really appreciate if you have any constructive criticism to offer (although I love compliments too if you have them). You can say things like: your characters aren't very stable, Rebecca seems way to young for her age, or how dare you include Twilight you loser! Anyway... Not that it is difficult, but a virtual cookie and your name in the next A/N to anyone who can guess the character from Twilight that was in the dream (and no cheating!). Sorry, long review. Last but not least, a fairy is saved from death every time someone writes a review, so scroll down and save Tinkerbell.


	10. Lets get to it

**Disclaimer:** I do not have my own personal illustrator like JK Rowling, who just so happens to own the HP universe.  
**A/N:** This chapter feels a little like a filler to me, but there are a couple of things I think I might pull from this chapter and take further. Right, but that's enough from me, so get to it!

Wow, was pretty much all I could think.

I just stood there for an uncountable amount of time, the book clutched in my hands, before Lily waved a hand frantically in front of my face.

"Hello, Remmie," she mocked. "Anybody home?"

"Oh come now," I shot back with a smile and batting away her hand. "We just found the single most useful book in this entire musty room."

"Excuse me? _We_ didn't find anything. I found everything." Lils poked a finger in my chest, "And don't you forget it."

"You just have access to better resources than me," I fake sniffled. "Are there any other useful Marauder books here?"

Lily turned her back to me to skim the bookshelf from which she had pried the prized book I now had clutched in my hand. I took a step forward to skim with her. Apparently there was a small section devoted to all things Marauder: from photo albums to old textbooks. In a middle portion were approximately twenty odd journals, all titled as being authored by the fearsome foursome. I spotted a particularly useful looking journal towards my end of the shelf. I pulled out The Marauder's Guide to Understanding the Female Species and eagerly flipped it open to the first page.

It was blank.

I turned to the next page. A big zippo. How odd. I rifled through an entire book of blank pages until I got to the back page. On the last page was scribbled one sentence: 'We got nothin'

Well humph. How utterly useless (I'm starting to lose hope that any man will ever come close to really understanding women. We're all so completely befuzzled by them).

Anyway! Back to what I think I'm gonna' call The Most Intriguing and Useful Book Ever Written (or maybe not, that is a long and ridiculous name). I quickly flipped open the book on animagus and scanned through all the scribbled notes and drawings. It was just a little bit messy and difficult to figure out, but I remained hopeful that it was a complete set of instructions.

"So wha cha think?" asked the love of my life, looking at me with those big brown orbs. I couldn't help myself. I had to let the girly me take over, causing me to hug Lily while jumping up and down and squealing to my heart's content (I would later deny doing anything so obnoxiously unmanly).

Lils, for her part, seemed to take this slightly overly enthusiastic response well. I mean she barely tensed up at all.

Eventually I calmed down enough to get control of myself. Once I was in control I coughed embarrassedly, took a step back, and said channeling my inner man, "Ah, I mean, I think it will be useful."

Lils raised on eyebrow at me before bursting out laughing. I quickly followed suit (I mean it might have been a wee bit funny). "I'm glad you like it," she said after the laughter had died down.

"This book is the key to the puzzle Lils," I said. "I mean with this thing we can become animagus in no time."

"Well that would be the point genius."

I stuck my tongue out at the love of my life before breaking into a huge smile. "So when do you want to start this thing?"

"Oh, whenever you want."

My grin got bigger. "Tonight?" I posed.

Lils rolled her eyes. "Nah, let's do something else tonight. Plus we need to let the other two in on the gig."

"Come on Lily, please!" I tried the puppy dog eyes (which failed miserably).

"Really Remmie, let's find something else."

I decided to let go off all pride and humility I had and dropped to my knees to beg (yes I really did want to start that bad). "Liillls, please can we start?"

She just looked exasperated. So I crawled forward and hugged her legs, burying my face in her thighs. "Please, please, please," I kept repeating. Lils just crossed her arms to wait my begging out (she always gets her way, no matter what).

I would have continued repeating please for several odd minutes except for the fact that an interruption burst through the door in the form of James and his new fiancé. I (in one of my usual fits of klutziness) made an attempt to turn around to see the people standing in the doorway, but forgot that I was clutching Lily's legs so tight I was probably cutting off the circulation. My quick turning motion threw Lils off balance and she stuttered forward until she started to fall. There was a lot of flailing limbs and screaming (that I swear didn't come from me, I swear) before Lils landed right on top of me, knocking out my breath (is it just me or is this happening a whole bunch lately?).

I groaned as Lily, none too gently, pushed herself off of me. There was a sharp pain in my back that was rectangular in nature. When I managed to push myself back into a seated position, I found that I had landed on the animagus book.

"Sooo…" said James cautiously, looking back and forth between Lils and myself. "I hope we didn't interrupt anything."

Lily quickly spit back a reply all nonchalant-like, "Not really, just Remmie begging for sexual favors, like usual."

I immediately turned bright red and glowered at the love of my life (if she wanted to play it dirty, I could join her (all in good fun of course)). I turned to look at James and Katelyn and gave my own casual response, "Well she plays with everyone else, I just wanted my turn."

Katelyn's eyes flashed between Lils and me while her face had a look that was a cross between surprise and horror. James, on the other hand, settled for an eye roll and a sigh. I turned my head back to look at Lily with a smug look and found anger flashing across her face. I immediately dropped the smug look and gulped. Behind me the sound of a door closing reverberated around the room.

"Lils," I began nervously. It would be exactly my luck to ruin this day with one overly stupid comment. "I...I'm so sorry, I…"

Lily crouched down beside me and swung a hand at my face. I cringed, awaiting its impact. A light pat came on my cheek and I squinted open one eye to see what was happening. Lils was smiling right in front of me.

"Good comeback," she grinned mischievously. I breathed a sigh of relief and grinned back. Suddenly her smile turned around I found myself trying to focus on a pointer finger situated between my eyes, "But I am not a slut and you remember it."

And then all seriousness was gone as she brought her hand back in order to pull me off the ground. "Did you see the look on Katelyn's face?" asked Lily. "It was priceless."

"She didn't know what to think. "

Lily looked to be in thought for a long moment, before coming to some conclusion. "You know what Remmie?" she said. "I think we should start tonight."

"Really?" I asked disbelieving.

"Why not?" she shrugged.

"Yes." I punched the air. "Let's go tell Pix and Hugo!"

"Wait Rem," she said grabbing my arm as I turned toward the door. I jerked back around to see she looked kind of shy and nervous. And when she spoke she sounded rather timid, "Um, can we make this just the two of us, at least until we get close to the end?"

"Oh, uh, sure," I replied (I didn't have a clue as to why Lils wouldn't want to include our friends. We always did everything together. Well, except for those snogging sessions that Hugo and Pix seemed so fond of lately). "Why don't you want them to help, though?"

Lils seemed to be healing from her bought of shyness. Her attitude was coming back full force and it was a visible difference in her stance and posture. "Oh, you know," she said waving the question off with her hand. "They can be such loud mouths and their minds are clearly on other things lately. They would be more of a hindrance than a help."

"Okay, whatever." I wasn't about to argue with achieving more alone time with my beloved. Maybe I could make this a turning point in my love life. I could use the situation to get closer to her (physically and emotionally). You know, start with little things like more hugs and make an effort at flirting (which will be more difficult than becoming an animagus, cause I do Not know how to flirt. Or at least I don't think I do). Yeah, so this will be the perfect opportunity. Think about it: a couple months from now when we're changing into animals at will, Pix and Hugo won't be the only ones doing all the snogging.

I tell you what. What an attitude change. And to think just days ago I wanted to keep my love for Lily a secret from her. How stupid I was. But this situation is too fraught with possibilities to pass up.

"In that case then," said Lily holding out her hand to me palm up. "Book please."

"Oh, right," I bent down, picked up the journal and handed it to her. She could take point on the project if she wanted to. I like to see my girl in a position of power. "Here you go. What do you need me to do?"

Lils rolled her eyes at me. "How am I supposed to know dummy? I haven't even opened the book yet. Hold your frikin horses."

I looked down with a pouty lip, reasonably chastised. Lily started to laugh.

"Right master. Whatever you say master," I said making my voice sound like Igor, Frankenstein's assistant, and Lily only laughed harder. "No, really," I continued with my voice back to normal. "Why don't you open that thing and we can dance this jig."

"Well, I guess we can start by moving to the potions lab in the basement."

This sounded like sound reasoning to me except, "Wouldn't people suspect we were up to something if spent large quantities of time down there? And wouldn't your parents discover what we were up to down there when they go to make potions?"

Lils snorted (couldn't she at least try to be more ladylike?). "My parents? Make Potions? Are you kidding me? Our potions lab is for show only. In fact we will probably have to dust off all the labels for the ingredients in order to find anything."

I grinned and nodded my consensus. "Alright, so they won't aimlessly wonder down there. But what about if we spend so much time in the basement?" I hunched over and started stroking Lily's arm while adopting my Igor accent, "What will we do about that master? How can we cover up your experiments?"

Lils laughed again and patted me on the head with the arm not being caressed. "Well servant, all we have to do is employ the Uncles Fred and George method!"

"Create wicked awesome merchandise?"

"No, silly. All we have to do is make a lot of bangs and other noises and people will think we are taking after Uncles Fred and George. Apparently their room was never quiet when they were growing up. And people never bothered them about it. So we will create the same illusion."

"Right-O!" I agreed and stopped acting like an obsessed servant. "Let's head out." I pointed to the door and started marching military style.

"Oh come on already," said Lily, probably (though I couldn't see) rolling her eyes. She grabbed my arm as she passed at the quick step and yanked me along with her.

"Coming. Coming," I said stumbling along.

The house was surprisingly empty as we charged our way towards the basement. No sign of life. Not a flutter of owl wings or the sloppy sound of heavy smooching. Lily led the way to a door off the kitchen that I could honestly say I had never seen open. Even though the house could be no more than eighteen years old the door creaked like it was a hundred year old haunted mansion. And even though the rest of the house was a mix of magic and muggle electricity the narrow, creaky, wooden stairs were lit only by a couple of spindly candles. It kind of freaked me out to be honest.

"Wow," said Lily, surprisingly breathless. "I've never been down here. It has a very Shrieking Shack feel to it, doesn't it?"

"I know, right?" I agreed.

"It's awesome!" said Lils, totally enthusiastic.

"Top notch. Totally wicked," I lied through my teeth, trying to suppress shivers.

"Let's go!" Lily said starting down the stairs and dragging me behind. I suddenly remembered those horror movies I had seen where the stupid girl stands at the top of the creepy staircase and then proceeds down while you're screaming your head off at her to not under any circumstances go down those damned stairs!

But like the good boy that I was, I followed my love down the steps and at least reasoned with myself that if something lurked at the bottom I was second in line to become the snack and had a chance to turn on my ass and scamper back upward.

However there was no monster at the bottom, no maniac, no nothing really (living at least). When we stepped down off the last step, bright firelight flamed up and lit a large, clean, dungeon-like room that was more than well equipped for any and all potion making. It also seemed to double as a storeroom. And an even larger bomb shelter-like room was connected by a well hidden, but sill noticeable stone door. There were lab benches, tables, cupboards, sinks, a fireplace, and fire pits with cauldrons over them.

I clucked my tongue. "Jeez, your family really goes all out, don't they Lils? Never do anything half mast."

"I didn't even know this was down here." Lily gaped. "I mean, I knew there was a basement, but all this?"

"It's okay," I said, clapping her on the back. "I've never been into my own attic. There are just places in houses you don't normally traverse and your house is larger than most."

She took a deep breath and shrugged her shoulders. "Ah well, guess we might as well finish enjoying the scenery and continue our trip."

"Right," I said, rubbing my hands together. "Let's hope those cupboards are fully stocked."

"They should be, but why don't you check and grab some of the standard equipment."

"All-righty-then."

I meandered over towards the cabinet closest to the bomb-shelter room, but my curiosity got the best of me and I had to check out that room (I mean bomb-shelters aren't common additions to wizarding homes. So why would the Potters have one?). When I got close to the doorway, I could see a slight haze wavering in the open frame and when I stepped right in front of the open door I could feel the hairs all over my body stand at attention. Static electricity started jumping over my body and I gasped and stepped backward, away from the haze.

"Ah, Lils?" I said shakily over my shoulder.

"Yeah?" she replied and I could hear her walking in my direction.

"You have to check this doorway out."

"What's so special about it?" she asked coming up to stand beside me.

I grabbed her by the arms and maneuvered her right in front of the door. "That's what," I whispered.

I could feel the static start to jump from Lils to me and I flinched and we both jumped backward.

"Jeez," breathed Lily. "That's magic right? Like super powerful spells?"

"That would be my guess."

"So what is that room? Why is there so much magic around it?"

"Well, I would have to assume," (I was thoroughly enjoying being the knowledgeable one), "guess really, that it is some kind of bomb-shelter for your family and the spells would be anti-detection and general protection spells. I would say that there was a fidelius charm, but, obviously, we can see it so I don't think so."

"Bomb-shelter?"

"Bomb-shelter, safe house, bunker, whatever."

"Let's check it out," said Lily, suddenly enthusiastic.

I, however, wasn't so sure. "Uh, I really don't think that is a safe idea Lils. We should probably leave the room alone. Who knows what spells your dad cast on that place."

"You aren't chicken are you?" said Lils, tauntingly.

"No," I replied firmly. "I just have my priorities set straight. Animagus first and then, if we have time, we can check out the room."

"Oh come on,"

"Please?"

"Oh fine," huffed Lily. "We'll start with the animal potion."

I smiled, "Thanks. Now get back to your reading and I'll find the stuff."

While Lily went back to concentrating on Remus's (not me, the other one) curly script, I went to check out the cabinets that stood on either side of the shelter door. One of them had the word 'Defensive' written at the top and the other one had 'Offensive' written on it. I went to check out the defensive cabinet first. I was making a list of the things I would need in my head: scales, knives, spoons, rags, basic ingredients, measuring bowls, etc. I opened the cabinet I had picked first and the first thing that came to mind was 'that figures.' How I didn't see it coming was beyond me, what with the label printed at the top and all.

It was a large seven foot tall, five foot wide cupboard and it was stuffed full of defensive objects. There were a multitude of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes products. Not their joke line either, this was their serious line. There were invisibility caps, gloves, scarves and cloaks, cans of Peruvian instant darkness powder, shield amulets, and decoy detectors. But there were other magical items and even some muggle items like smoke bombs and Kevlar vests. It was a cabinet filled for one purpose: to resist a magical attack.

After that display I was overly eager to explore the offensive cabinet (I wanted to see what kind of goodies could be stored in there).

"Hey, Remmie," Lily snapped from the middle of the room. "Were you ever going to grab the supplies so we can get a move on?"

"Oh, right!" I jumped and decided I would have to skip over the offensive cupboard for now and leave it till later. Using my mental capabilities this time, I read the labels stuck on the cabinets and quickly started to pile supplies on the table Lils had claimed for our use. When I was finished with my chore I took a seat on a stool real close the love of my life (remembering my resolution to get closer to her).

"So what does Mooney say?" I asked leaning over her shoulder to get a look at the book.

"Well he starts by giving a lot of preliminary crap and safety warnings. It is punctuated by a lot of funny anecdotes though. Apparently in stage one the potion is highly flammable and likely to explode if you have the heat to high and Wormtail got his ass caught on fire when their first attempt exploded. Oh and by the way, would you mind getting your face out of mine? Your breath really stinks."

I jerked my head back offended (not like Lils didn't do that stuff all the time though). "I believe it's your own breath that you're sniffing darling, 'cause mine can't smell even half as bad as that."

"Are you really accusing _me_ of bad breath?" Lils said putting a hand over her chest and heaving an astonished look on her face (we are really the little actors, we are).

"If the dragon faints."

"That's it!" Lils got her fierce look on and I tensed (I knew what was coming).

"Ahhhhhhhhh!" we both screamed (although for slightly different reasons). Lily pounced on me and proceeded to attempt to pin me to the floor. Okay, so she actually pinned me to the floor. And quickly too. Somehow she managed to get me on my stomach, grab my arms in her hands, and straddle me on my back so that it was almost impossible to fight back.

"Do you yield?" Lils bent over and whispered in my ear.

"Never!" I yelled back and futilely tried to squirm out of her merciless grasp.

"Are you sure?" she continued to whisper in my ear.

"Fine! I give, I yield, you win, uncle, whatever you want. Just let go of my arms please."

"Good boy," Lily said and patted me on the head.

Abruptly the door at the top of the stairs was slammed open and Mr. Potter (followed by several of the Mr. Weasleys and Mrs. Weasleys and others) came scurrying down the stairs. They all pooled at the bottom of the steps and stood staring at Lils and me (caught once a frickin again in an awkward position. I mean Lils hadn't moved from her position straddling my arse and I still had my hands back resting on her thighs. And I believe we were both gawking stupidly at the assemblage of adults we had never expected).

"Daddy!" Lils squeaked. "What are you doing down here?"

"I could ask you the same thing princess," Mr. Potter said still gazing around the room with his wand out.

"We were just going to experiment," said Lily nervously.

"Uh huh," grunted Mr. Potter disbelieving.

Mrs. Potter and my mother shoved their way to the front of the crowd. Ginny snapped, "Lily get off of Remus." And my mother turned towards Mr. Potter, "So I take it there is no danger Harry?"

Mr. Potter sighed and turned towards my mummy, "It would appear not. False alarm everyone." The throng began to proceed back upstairs looking relieved and considerably happier than before. Lily's parents and my parents stayed behind. I gulped (what could we possibly have done wrong now?).

Mr. Potter took a deep breath before turning towards where Lils and I stood leaning against the table in order to block the animagus book from sight. "First of all, please tell me you were just wrestling with Remus, princess."

Lily was actually blushing when I glanced over at her. I, however, took the initiative, "Honest to Merlin, we were just messing around Mr. Potter." Wait! That didn't come out right, so I quickly added on, "You know, tossing insults around and getting revenge."

"So what were you doing down here again?" asked Ginny.

"We were just trying to create a joke product like Uncle George mum," said Lily. "We can do that, can't we?"

"I guess so," said Mrs. Potter with a big sigh. "As long as you promise me you won't make a career out of it."

Lils and I held up our right hands, "We won't, scouts honor," we said in unison.

"The room," my father reminded Lily's.

"Oh yes," said Mr. Potter. "You kids need to stay away from that room over there okay? There are very powerful spells protecting the place and if anyone gets too close to it I automatically know and come running."

"What is it?" asked Lils of her father.

"It was a safe house added on so that you kids and your mother could be safe if Death Eaters ever raided wanting revenge. It's linked to safe rooms in many other houses, including one in Neville's."

"Really? I can get to my house from that room?" I asked enthusiastically.

My father and Lily's looked around guiltily while their wives glared at them. My father coughed and said, "Uh, well, it…might just, you know, happen to be … um … untested and potentially dangerous. But, really, I mean, it's been there for years now and hasn't caused any damage. Come on. Right? Harry, back me up!"

Mr. Potter, however, didn't say a thing. He was much too busy cowering under his wife's glare. "You told me that you had abandoned that little 'project' of yours after you almost sucked the entire basement into a swirling vortex," Mrs. Potter snarled.

Mr. Potter cowered a little more and responded in a small voice, "Well, technically, we did abandon it. It isn't exactly fully tested, even if it is still there."

"We'll talk about this later," said Mrs. Potter dangerously to her husband and my mother nodded in agreement in the direction of my father. Lily and I, for our part, tried to pretend it wasn't happening. We kind of just looked around the room (anywhere but at our parents. I mean if you pretend it didn't happen then the parents are less likely to take it out on you when their focus returns to you).

"So," said Lils cheerfully when that focus started to return back to us kids. "Are we good to go on the whole 'experimentation' thing?"

"Fine, but be careful and remember no going close to the door."

Our parents tramped back up the stairs and Lils and I let out a collective breath. I looked at Lily and put my hands on my hips. "Your parents would never venture down those stairs would they? Well I have to tell you that we got much more than your parents coming and checking on us: two-thirds of the Order of the Phoenix came a knocking!"

"Oh lay off the drama Remmie. We weren't discovered were we? And now we have the official seal of approval to be down here."

"It's the principle of the matter."

"No it isn't. You just want to say I told you so, but in more words."

"So, what if it is? What are you gonna do about it?"

"I'd beat the snot out of you, that's what I'd do."

"You wouldn't dare."

"I think we've already proven what I would and wouldn't dare."

"Okay, fine. Truce," I said (I was a smart young man. I knew when to pick my battles and quite frankly I liked my snot where it was. Figuratively speaking of course).

Lily grinned evilly at me and flexed her biceps, flaunting her latest victory over wimpy old me. "Well," she said. "Shall we finally get a move on with this potion brewing crap?"

"I think we shall," I responded, more than agreeable. It was about time after wasting so much. "Let's get to it."

**A/N:** Right, well I hope you liked it. I find that I need to give some credit to those of my reviewers who guessed at the Twilight character from last chapter: Annie and lovenotwarXo. However lovenotwarXo was the only one to get it right (it was Alice- she had gold eyes and saw the future) so I give him or her a virtual cookie and I'll even throw in a glass of milk. As always, Review: the credit markets need all the reviews they can get to boost them back up!


	11. Our Lips Connected

**Disclaimer: **If I were the famous author of the amazing Harry Potter series, why would I bother working a worthless part time job? I wouldn't and so therefore I just couldn't be the fabulous JK.

**A/N: **Well this is the end of my prewritten chappies. So I will attempt to write my utter fastest, but if I were you I would only expect one chapter about every week and a half (although hopefully faster if you feel lucky). I find this chapter to be rather exciting, so I hope you enjoy. So, get to it!

"Engorgio," I shouted pointing my wand at a small rock I was running towards. The rock grew to the size of a large boulder and I threw myself behind it as spells whistled over my head and explosions shook the forest floor around me. I turned around and put my back to the boulder as it shook with a tremendous force and rock splinters went flying (my hideout wasn't going to last long). I looked around the forest and saw black and scarlet robed people dueling everywhere. Both black and scarlet robed piles littered the ground from where duelers had fallen. It was impossible to discern faces due to the fact that hoods were up, but my wandering eyes did find Lily, her hood blown halfway behind her head, dueling some black robed person close to a head taller than her. She had a grim look of determination on her face as she traded spells with her attacker. I desperately wanted to go help her, but I had bigger fish to fry.

My boulder shook again and I was well aware that it wouldn't last more than another minute. I stuck my head up over the rock to get a look at my attackers and got some hair singed off for my trouble. About twenty-five yards past my boulder approximately three black robed people were holed up behind some rocks and trees and shooting spells out at everyone. It was my job (don't ask me why) to clear those Blackies out of there (although it was probably a suicide mission).

I took a huge breath and, without a plan, jumped out from behind my boulder and started running full tilt towards my enemy. I threw shield charms out in front of me and made a zigzag towards a tree just to the right of the Blackies hidey-hole. Standing behind the tree to catch my breath I saw a red cloaked person fall to a black one as the black cloaked person laughed a high pitched laugh that I easily recognized. On the ground the red robed person's hood fell off and I saw the blank stare of Hugo as his attacker ran off to find a new victim.

I felt rage take my heart as I looked at the unmoving form of Hugo. I pulled several decoy detonators from my pocket and set them loose. I gripped my wand tight and when I heard the detonators go off I spun around the tree, aimed my wand at the trees beside the Blackies and said, "incendio!"

I quick hid back behind my tree again as spells shot towards me, but I had accomplished my goal (they wouldn't be hiding behind those trees any longer, being on fire and all). Knowing I was going to have to face the three guys on the other side of my tree, I took a deep breath and rolled to one side. Coming back to my feet in one smooth motion I aimed my wand at the first black robed person I found and thought, "expelliarmus." The wand went flying from the guy's hand and I dived for it while dodging spells from his two comrades.

I jumped behind another tree as a scream like a banshee rang through the forest (this was getting nasty). Peeking out from behind the tree I saw my three enemies cautiously approaching the barrier between me and them. Thinking quick my mind found a random spell from some book I read once (I pray this works). I flung myself away from the tree shouting "terra tempestas" at the three approaching. Immediately a mini tornado started to form among them, blowing dirt and leaves everywhere. All four of us covered our faces as the mini windstorm blew itself out.

I recovered first and, crouching on the ground, I stunned two of my enemy before the third threw up a shield. His hood had blown off in the tempest and I was faced with none other than Scorpius Malfoy.

"Malfoy," I spat at him, my wand pointing at his heart.

"Ah, so it's you Remus," he chuckled in return. "I must say that you have outdone yourself. I hardly expected you to get so far."

"Hearing such taunts from you means little to me, my slithery friend," I returned with a smile of my own.

"Why don't you throw down your wand and give yourself up Remus? You are outnumbered and all of your allies have fallen," Scorpius sneered at me. It was only then I realized how deathly quiet it had gotten except for a few whistles and bangs far distant. I took a quick look around me and found that Scorpius had been joined by two of his fellows. I was surrounded and alone.

"He's not alone," yelled Lucy Weasley, Percy's middle child (she was going to be a third year this year). Little Lucy ran between the three facing me and situated herself at my back. I couldn't begin to describe what it felt like to realize that all my comrades were gone. Lily, Hugo, Fred, Albus: all of them had fallen to these black robed fiends. I remembered seeing Hugo lying there with his blank stare and pictured Lily with the same look. A dark rage gripped my soul, but I couldn't be a martyr when Lucy was with me. She was so young and innocent; I needed to give her a chance to get away instead of falling at my side.

"Let Lucy go free and I'll come quietly," I demanded. "Or else Scorpius will be in a world of hurt. Let her go and I'll let you three go unscathed."

The three of them laughed out loud and Lucy made an offended sound. "I stand with you," she stated resolutely behind me.

A fourth black robed person walked up towards our gathering and brought his hood down. "You are hardly in a position to ask for anything Remus," sneered James.

"Traitor," I hissed. Then, quick as a flash, (before they could cast the first spell) I spun and pulled Lucy to the ground (covering most of her small body with mine). I fired a tickling charm at Scorpius and got off an impediment jinx at James before I was hit by three spells simultaneously. The last thing I remember before blacking out was a massive pain flowing through my entire body.

I woke up stiff all over. It was awful, horrible, and downright nasty. I grunted just from the effort of trying to move my arm. "You idiots," snapped a very familiar voice. "You could have seriously hurt him."

I opened my eyes with another groan and found the face of my beloved looking down at me. Her hair was tickling my neck and she was wiping my forehead with a warm cloth, but my spirit didn't lift until she smiled at me.

"Hey, we were just acting in self defense Lily!" came James' voice. "He was lashing out at us, what else were we supposed to do?"

"Everyone gets injured in these things Lily, you know…" Scorpius started but trailed off when Lily gave him a look of deepest loathing (in my experience it is better to cower in fear when Lily's wrath is turned towards you).

Teddy Lupin and Mr. Potter walked into the room behind where Scorpius was seated at this point. "Ah, good. Remus is up," stated Teddy while Mr. Potter shot a curious glance at his daughter. I took this chance to look around the room properly (we were in the Potter's Living room that had been expanded to fit more people). There had to be about fifty to sixty people standing and sitting in the room. All of the current DA (including those previous DA members that were under twenty) and some of the Order of the Phoenix were in the room.

Mr. Potter, Teddy, and my father made their way to the center of the room and Mr. Potter called the room to order. "Well, that was an excellent practice battle everyone."

I looked at Lils and whispered, "how long was I out?"

"About half an hour," she responded. "Obviously, with your demise, the black team won."

I shrugged and made a disgruntled sound. I took a closer look at those who had fought the battle in the forest behind the Potter's house (that would be all DA members, current and previous, that were under the age of twenty). Many people looked rather worse for wear than they had before the battle had commenced. Tears, cuts, bruises, blood, and dirt were abound. My teammates had disappointed looks on their faces while the black team was munching on some of Honeydukes' best chocolate bars (the reward for winning).

I sat up to get a better view of the room. My mother, Lily's mom, and other moms were flitting around the room cleaning the fighters up and healing their minor wounds. This was the largest practice battle that the DA had ever seen. Never in Dumbledore's Army history had so many fought at once. It, of course, made everyone (especially me and Lils) curious as to why Mr. Potter and my father were so eager to set this up. But, the most that we could get out of those grown up types was that 'there's lots of evil out there and it is better to be prepared.' So naturally us Rebels had contemplated this reasoning (and what we heard from spying) and put it together to mean something closer to 'there's a growing evil force out there that we don't know if we'll be able to contain and the nation might once again break out into civil war.' Mind you that is disturbing news and something you take with a grain of salt (meaning we aren't one hundred percent sure on the war part).

Nonetheless, whatever evil is out there led to this day about two and a half weeks after the end of my grounding and the announcement of James' engagement. Speaking of fiancés, Katelyn was looking mildly frightened while attending to James' multitude of minor injuries (she was taking to this magic thing amazingly well and had been picking it up lightning quick over the past couple of weeks, but it looks like today's display was just a tiny bit too much for her).

I tuned back in to what my father and Lils' father were saying and realized they had finished their post-battle speech and were moving on to what I like to call the highlight reels (which is the analyzing of what different people did best and worst). "Well, I think that by far, Remus' ambush was one of the more impressive points of the battle," said Teddy Lupin.

They then went on to show what I did right and wrong in my raid for the others to learn from. They ended with my protection of little Lucy. "It was very noble of you to defend Lucy like you did Remus, but this was supposed to be a battle where everyone was on an even footing. Therefore you should have tried to find a way to fight out of the circle," considered Mr. Potter. I looked over towards where Lucy was sitting and she stuck her tongue out at me, at which I turned away (not before sticking my tongue back out at her. I'm such a little kid).

"Well, I think it was very brave of you to try to save Lucy like that Remmie," whispered the love of my life with a smile. I smiled back while my father moved on to talk about a particularly complicated piece of magic Albus had racked up in order to win one of his duels. Rose Weasley had apparently held off three opponents for a while before herself falling. Also Kevin Wood had taken an opponent out with a well aimed shot from fifty yards.

I stopped listening after a while in order to better concentrate on my game of footsie with Lils. I slipped my shoe off my right foot and she followed suit. Lils sat down on the couch beside me and wrapped her leg around mine. We were fully engrossed in each other (like usual) when our mothers called us out on it. "Lillian," called Mrs. Potter from across the room (interrupting her husband mid-sentence). Consequently, all eyes in the room turned to us while my mother smacked me across the back of the head. Lily and I were blushing furiously and staring back around the room blinking while my mom started to get to work healing my cuts and bruises. "Pay attention," snapped Ginny and gave Mr. Potter the nod to continue.

"Ahh, right," said Mr. Potter appearing slightly lost. Gathering himself back up, he continued, "Well, we might be having one more of these little practices over the summer. So we'll send you notice if we find a proper time. Thank you for a great meeting and see you all later. Dismissed."

A great many of the non-Weasleys and some of the Weasleys stood up and made their way to one of the fireplaces or towards the front door to leave (not without a lot of conversing on the way). Ron, Hermione, Rose, Hugo, Scorpius, and Pixie stayed along with me and my parents and George and Angelina and their kids. I nodded and waved to Kevin Wood, who stayed in Hugo and my dormitories with us, as he left. As the front room began to thin of people, it shrank back to its normal size in front of my very eyes (it was deeply disturbing).

The remaining occupants of the room found vacated seats to sit in while Kari, sporting a pink flowered pillowcase for a shirt and black sports shorts, skidded into the room carrying a tray of drinks. Kari set the drinks down on the coffee table, curtsied to Mr. Potter, winked at George, and skipped back out of the room. Hermione watched the whole episode closely. "I expect you're treating Kari well Harry?"

Mr. Potter nodded, always eager to please. Ron, on the other hand, was watching his daughter and Scorpius with his arms crossed across his chest (it was clear to everyone that he didn't approve, even though they had been together for years). Rose spotted her dad watching and cuddled up closer to her boyfriend. Ron huffed and Hermione smacked him for it. Lils and I exchanged smiles after this latest episode of Rose vs. Dad. Rose often won these battles because of her mom. The few times she lost, it meant that Hermione was nowhere to be found.

It was apparent, however, that Hermione had found her own relationship to disapprove of. I caught her throwing glares at Hugo and Pixie cuddling on a chair while engaged in small talk with the room at large. Apparently the weather and the current happenings at the Ministry were terribly interesting subjects because that is what the grown-ups started talking about.

Lils, being the impatient sort that she is, decided that she didn't want to spend any of the quality time with the parents. She grabbed my arm and dragged my bottom off the couch. She then continued to pull me towards the hallway, but I grabbed hold of Hugo's arm as we walked past his chair. Due to Newton's first law of motion Hugo (and thus Pix who was on his lap) toppled off the chair with a massive "Oof."

"Children!" called Ginny. "Don't rough around on the furniture."

Us four Rebels made our way out of the living room to Mrs. Potters distinct tones telling the room at large, "I honestly don't know what I'm going to do about them. They're as bad as Fred and George were as kids. Always horsing around and messing things up."

"I don't know," said George. "I didn't turn out half bad."

"Hmmmm."

Hugo, Pixie, and me followed Lily to the kitchen where she rummaged through the fridge and grabbed out four Butterbeers. I took one from my love and started to chug it down.

"I really wish you could have seen my shining moment today, you guys," said Pixie staring at the ceiling like in a daydream. Hugo just groaned and sunk down on his stool. "Yep, I fought a ferocious duel that lasted all of seventy seconds with my boy right here."

Pixie ruffled Hugo's hair and he sunk down lower. "Oh yeah," I laughed. "I saw Hugo fall to your mighty wand Pix. That was classic. I'm actually amazed it took you so long to find him though."

"He was avoiding me," declared Pix with a smirk. "Afraid of little old me, it would seem."

"You're just lucky I love you so much," grumbled Hugo.

"Oh come here baby and get a kiss." This seemed to cheer Hugo up marginally and he planted a wet one on Pixie's lips (I made a point of turning away). Lily, however, was watching this episode with great interest.

"Does our snogging amuse you?" asked Pixie of Lily, after seeing her staring.

"Not at all. I was just admiring your technique. It was very… oh what's the word I'm looking for … amateurish."

Pixie had the nerve to look all affronted and placed a hand over her breast. "Excuse me? I've seen you kissing and, suffice to say, you aren't in position to critique anyone. Not with that fish-like thing you do."

"I do not!" exclaimed Lily, now all insulted herself. "Remmie, smack Pix for me will you?"

I just blinked at Lily for a second before Pixie made her own demand, "Hugo don't let Rem touch me, alright?"

I turned to Hugo and we looked at each other with identical looks crossing our faces (something along the lines of not being able to disobey direct orders from these excruciatingly demanding women in our lives). I made the first move and tried to reach around Hugo to hit Pixie for the love of my life. Hugo, doing as his girl had commanded, snagged my arm. However, in typical Hugo fashion, he pulled my arm too hard and I fell off my stool with a thump. I pulled on Hugo's leg to get revenge and he fell on top of me (which was probably counterproductive on my part because it hurt me more than him).

This turned into some weird grunge wrestling match between me and Hugo with our girls cheering us on. I'm proud to say that I managed to lay it in to Hugo pretty well and had him pinned to the floor when we got interrupted.

"What in the bloody hell is going on in here?" said Fred (George's 16 year old son) strutting into the room. I looked up from my strangle hold on Hugo.

"Freddie," exclaimed Pixie, going over to Fred and pulling him into the kitchen. "Just the man I wanted to see."

"What ever could you want me for?"

"Well see, Lily and I are having a little debate about who's the better kisser…"

"Oh wait. Hold it right there." Fred held up his hands and backed slowly away from Pixie. "I'm truly honored Pixie, but I'm not about to kiss you and Lily. For one, Lily is my cousin. And there is only one word to describe that: ick."

"No no no. You don't understand. You would be a well experienced and fabulous kisser according to gossip. All you have to do is watch and judge my kissing versus Lily's kissing."

"Uh huh," grunted Fred still skeptical (no doubt for good reason. I mean who would want to be caught between Lily and Pixie. Talk about a rock and a hard place). "And what is the point of this?"

"Pixie insulted my snogging techniques," proclaimed Lils, speaking up for the first time. "I need to prove her wrong."

"Well as long as it is all in good fun, I shall do as mine queens doth command." Fred gave each Pix and Lils a small bow and pulled up a stool to sit on. I took my hand off Hugo's face for the first time since Freddie came in, allowing him to raise his head off the ground. Instinctually, I believe, both Hugo and I knew that this kissing match would be a horrible idea. For one, it was a KISSING match (how do you even judge that?). Secondly, it was being lorded over by Freddie (who, might I need to remind you is George's child and what that means? I think not). And thirdly, it was between these two particular girls (who are both nastily strong willed and obstinate).

About at this point was when it came to me in a flash what this latest little endeavor would mean for me (the tiniest bit slow on the uptake, I know). I was once again being plunged into a quasi-sexual situation with the girl that I was massively crushing over, but not together with. And furthermore, I was not the cause of this circumstance (nor any of the others for that matter). Why is it Lily's most recent goal in life to torture me into insanity, I may ask you? Moreover, why am I not enjoying these state of affairs more (probably because it reminds me I cannot kiss Lily whenever I want to. Not that I'm not working on that).

"Alright campers, take your positions," said Freddie on his high horse (or stool thingy). Hugo rotated to his feet with resignation on his face and assisted Pix to her feet, leaning against the counter of the kitchen island. I just sat there entombed in a state of nervousness, my palms starting to sweat. Given the idea of suddenly having to kiss Lils passionately on the spot, I couldn't get myself to move.

It, of course, didn't matter if I could get to my feet to be on Lily's level because she simply came to me; sliding down off her seat and sitting on the floor next to me. She scooted her perfect bum across the floor till she was seated practically in my lap. Lils leaned into my right ear and whispered an apology for getting me into this mess. It was so cute and sweet that I knew there was no way I could not forgive her (assuming there was something to forgive, lest we forget the fact I would be getting a chance to smooch the girl I loved).

"Ready to get it on biach?" said Pixie, snapping her fingers (all three male spectators subsequently rolled their eyes).

"You bet your ass," came back Lily grabbing the front of my shirt for show and painfully yanking out one of my few chest hairs.

"Alright sports fans," commentated Freddie into a wooden spoon. "Today we have a snogging grudge match between newbie smoochers Pixie pucker-up Scamander and Lily lazy-lips Potter. It seems we have a green light from the lone judge for today's bizarre battle, yours truly Fred, the king, Weasley. Boys and girls, start your lips!"

Groans erupted from both couples. Freddie was the commentator for quidditch matches at Hogwarts and while his commentating could get somewhat carried away, it was always entertaining. "Okay, okay you haters. Are you all set to begin? Yes? Alright, let's get this thing rolling: one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, and for to go!"

All four of us friends just shook our heads at Fred's ludicrous display. "You are deeply disturbed Fred," I said.

"And your point is…?" said Freddie tilting his head.

"Nevermind," I replied, letting it go.

"Right, well, I'm not getting any younger, so if you guys could just pucker up so I can get back to yelling at youngsters to get off my lawn; that would be fabulous."

Lily and Pixie glared daggers at each other for a second before Pix broke off and started up her favorite new pastime with Hugo. I found that I was suddenly able to look at Hugo and Pix snogging (I'm not sure what for: whether I was looking for pointers or I was just so nervous I was transfixed). I found that this chance to finally kiss Lils properly, though not without extenuating circumstances, had my mind filled with pointless thoughts (such as my lip wetness (or rather dryness), ohmygod, my more than likely bad breath, ohmygod, Lily is so pretty tonight, and more ohmygod for good measure). I was worried that I didn't have what it took to be a good kisser. I may have kissed a few girls (and not just my aunts) and those snogging sessions may have went alright, but that didn't relieve the tension of what I was about to do.

Maybe I shouldn't have been worrying so much and thought more about important matters like placing my hands right and angling my head properly. But I couldn't help the anxiousness (even having kind of kissed Lily a couple times by now). It just overwhelmed me. I found it to be a gigantic effort to do even the minor action of turning my head to look from Hugo and Pix to my own snogging partner.

However, when I stared into the love of my life's eyes I managed to shrug off most of my anxiety and allow my mind to go virtually blank. This would be easy, like riding a bike (but, like, a million, billion times better). It didn't matter if my first passionate kiss (I would like to discredit those other misadventures) with my Lils would be when we weren't dating or considering dating. It also didn't matter that it had been made into some ludicrous competition. The only thing that mattered was this kiss, at this moment. Because if I could get this right, then I would only be that much closer to my ultimate goal of getting Lily to love me back.

I allowed my eyes to get absorbed into Lily's and my hands to move themselves to Lily's head as I prepared for the moment. Lils put her arms around me also and started to slowly lean in. Out of the corner of my eye, in the moments before I got completely lost in me and Lily, I saw Freddie quietly slip off his stool and slink out of the kitchen while we couples were more than preoccupied. But I found that despite the fact that the competition was no longer being judged, I knew I wouldn't stop what was about to happen for the world. Not for anything. And then our lips connected.

**A/N: **Yay! Major cliff hanger (I feel so truly evil. HEHEHE). Anyway, I hope you enjoyed. I just wondered how many of you I actually fooled into thinking Remus was in a real battle (any of you)? As always, please review because without reviews the clock stops ticking and if the clock stops ticking, then I'll never reach the day Transformers 2 comes out (Yipee! Transformers! I can't wait (can you tell?)).

--Chris


	12. Events Unravel

**Disclaimer:** I have delusions of grandeur, but they involve superheroes, not superauthors, like JK Rowling who provided this amazing setup.

**A/N:** Sorry that the wait was a little longer than I said, but I wasn't exactly sure where I wanted this chapter to go. I had ideas, but the ending made me sit and debate with myself. You'll see where I eventually decided to take it : ) Oh, and don't kill me for the beginning of this chappie! Please! Now get to it!

It was a disaster. There was no denying it. My first hot, passionate kiss with that girl I loved had gone horribly, terribly wrong. Although to be completely honest, we never actually kissed. I wanted so hard to believe that we did, that our lips connected. But, the only parts of our bodies that actually touched were when our noses bashed together.

"Lils I'm so sorry."

And what had been bad, had only gotten worse. I don't really know what happened now, some epic form of clumsiness (I don't have a clue), but somehow Lils had come out of this escapade with a bloody and possibly broken nose and I, myself, had a black eye.

"Lils, I don't know what happened. I'm sorry."

It seems illogical, unreasonable. I was holding her head right? I would have had to know which way our heads were tilted. Apparently not. And to cap it off, Pixie and Hugo were sitting over there laughing their heads off at our misery. Jerks. See if Lils and I invite them to be animagus now! Ha!

Oh, well maybe that is a bit harsh. I don't think we could actually take that big of a step in our lives without Hugo and Pix. Still though, my poor Lily was sitting there holding her nose while blood streamed down onto her favorite shirt.

"I'm really sorry."

Lily looked at me through frustrated eyes. "Stob saying dabt." She then turned her gaze on Pix. "And you! Ged my moder."

Pixie left clutching her sides and Hugo, after a moment of indecision, decided it would be safer to follow her. I looked back at Lily after the other two mongrels disappeared through a doorway. She was still beautiful; always beautiful, but I would have to admit that the blood didn't really add to her beauty. I got up and grabbed a towel from the sink to wipe away the blood.

Crouching down, I started to carefully clean the red gunk from Lils' chin and neck. She tilted her head back to give me easier access. "Do you think it's broken?" I asked.

She just shrugged in response. I started to wipe the blood from her upper lip, making sure not to touch her nose. After most of the crimson was washed from my girl's face I leaned down to examine her nose. And at just that moment Lily sneezed.

"By Merlin! What have you two gotten yourselves caught up in now?" Mrs. Potter strutted into the kitchen and examined the situation. I turned my head to look at her and tried to wipe globs of blood from out of my eyes. Pixie walked in just then and burst into laughter (I would have to assume at the sight of me. And, moreover, couldn't she hold it in?).

Mrs. Potter turned around to see who was laughing. She lifted her hand, "Out!" But Pixie didn't listen, she just stuffed her hand in her mouth to try and stifle her laughter.

"Oh, for Merlin's sake!" Ginny sighed. "Can't you two ever keep yourselves out of trouble?" Mrs. Potter leaned down in front of her daughter and pulled out her wand. After a quick examination the wand started to wave in a complex way and Mrs. Potter whispered some spell.

Lily reached up and grabbed her nose, moving it back and forth a little to check if it was fully healed. Apparently satisfied, she turned her mother's attention to me, "Remmie has a black eye Mommy."

As Ginny attended to my bruise, she asked the inevitable question. "So how did this happen?"

Pixie broke down into renewed gales and I turned to glare at her and plead through looks that she don't respond. She ignored me completely (of course, the witch). "I think they were trying to smooch," she managed to get out. "It looked like they were trying to have sex with their eyes."

"That's it!" Lily yelled, jumping to her feet.

Pixie squealed and darted out the door yelling behind her, "I won! It's no wonder all those boys broke up with you!"

Lils tore after Pix at full tilt screaming at her. Mrs. Potter and I stared at the door the girls had disappeared through and heard a crash that was clearly something breaking. Seconds later Pixie sped back into the kitchen and out the back door with Lily close on her heels. Both Mrs. Potter and I looked slightly taken aback.

"Right," I said simply.

"Ginny, what on earth was that?" said my mother walking into the kitchen. She took one look at my blood covered face and suddenly she was at my side. "Remus! What's wrong? What happened?" Always the worrier, my mother.

"Mom," I tried reassuring her. "It's okay. It's not my blood."

Mrs. Potter, on the other hand, seemed to be breaking down (like the staring off into space, quiet mumbling kind of braking down). "Kids! Why me? That's all I ask; why me? I'm getting too old for this," she mumbled to herself. I was frankly kind of worried for her (I mean she has always been one of the strongest willed and most together people I've known).

My mother stared at Mrs. Potter. "Are you all right Ginny?" she asked eyes on Lily's mom's face.

All three of us in the kitchen ignored the sudden stream of teenagers rushing out the back door with Fred in the lead crying, "Cat fight."

Mrs. Potter turned her face to my mother. "I'm fine Hannah. I'm just a little worried."

"About what? These hoodlums? I wouldn't worry too much about them. They seem reckless now, but it's not like they're doing anything illegal." I blinked and turned my head down slightly in shame at the illegal part (if only my parents knew about my dreams to become an animagus. Maybe then they wouldn't be so willing to let me hang out at the Potter's).

Thankfully neither mother was watching me and my shame-ridden face. "It's not Lily and Remus. Or even Albus or James that has me too worried. It's something else. But that isn't something for right now. I'm sure you'll find out soon anyway," said Lily's mom before turning to me. "Now let's see if we can get you cleaned up Remus."

I had just gotten the blood scourgified off me and was making my way towards the back door when Lils burst back in with a huge smile on her face and blood (once again) streaming down her face. "Ha!" she said. "See if Pixie taunts me now."

Hugo walked in at that point with a bruised and clearly unconscious Pixie in his arms. "Lillian Luna Potter!" came a roar behind me and quite suddenly my girl was no longer smiling. In fact Lily backed several steps to the nearest wall. Fred came in and helped Hugo lift Pixie onto the counter. The other kids piled in behind, but at the sight of Mrs. Potter's face tumbled back out again. "Harry!" yelled Ginny again.

Mr. Potter walked in just seconds later followed closely by Hermione. "Oh my gosh," said Hermione looking from the bloody Lily to the unmoving Pixie. "I'll get Angelina."

I was unsure what to think as events rushed by. Mr. and Mrs. Potter focused on Lily while Hermione and Angelina (a healer) brought Pixie back around and patched up her minor scratches and bruises. Things passed me by. I was worried about what Lily had done to Pixie (not that they hadn't gotten into very physical fights before. They were both very strong willed women and their wills sometimes clashed). But I was also worried about what Lily's parents would do to her. I was afraid of her being grounded for a week again. I don't think I could deal with it. More Lily withdrawal. Nasty stuff.

However Lily didn't get in too much trouble (didn't even get grounded; just had extra chores for a week (and guess who would be stuck helping her with them? Me? You'd be correct. Then again, I am the one who insists on being around her at all times)). I would have to suppose the real reason Lily didn't achieve massive levels of grounding would be because chivalrous Pixie forgave Lils and told Mr. and Mrs. Potter to go easy on her. Maybe Pixie didn't think it fair that Lils got into trouble when I don't think her own parents even know what punishment is.

The person I actually feel worst for was Freddie. Lily and Pixie cornered him after his mom finished going after him for encouraging the cat fight. And when I say that Lily and Pix cornered Freddie, I literally mean they had him in a corner of the kitchen and went after him with threats and little slaps, hits, and punches. I had known he would get in trouble for abandoning the kissing competition (not that I think he deserved it: nobody should get caught in that situation. I probably would have sneaked off too).

I would probably have to say the best thing that came from the pandemonium would be that Mrs. Potter completely forgot Pixie's comment about eye-sex (however true or false it may have been. Although probably more true on my side).

However all the ruckus caused the parents to want to cut their evening short. So less than half an hour after the kissing competition blew up, here I am standing on the front porch saying goodbye to Lils before I side-along apparate home with my mummy and daddy. My parents were also making their farewells to the two families left (Mr. and Mrs. Potter and Ron and Hermione).

This was an especially awkward goodbye for me because of what had happened earlier. I mean what do you say to the girl who you love but who doesn't know it and you almost kissed earlier? I certainly don't have one iota of a clue. Did what almost happened mean our friendship was moving towards a more than friend place or was it really a mistake? What was I supposed to read from it? I decided, in the end, to almost pretend like it didn't happen.

"Well, see you tomorrow Lils," I said, giving her my regular best friend, bear-like hug.

My father heard what I had said and turned to me. "You won't be with Lily tomorrow Remus."

"What!?" I said all offended.

"Don't you remember our plans?"

I tilted my head to the side, looking up trying to remember. I dug in the recesses of my mind, but came up blank. My father rolled his eyes and sighed when I apparently wasn't going to come up with anything. "We were going to have lunch with Great-Grandma Longbottom and then go shopping in Diagon Alley while your mom gets caught up at work."

"Oh yeah," I said, it all coming back to me. Dad and I were going to spend a lot of time looking at new quidditch equipment (Got to make sure I stay on the Gryffindor team you know). "Well, guess I'll see you the day after that then Lils."

"Couldn't I come with you guys?" asked my girl.

"Lily, it's rude to invite yourself and you'll be busy with chores anyway," said Mrs. Potter. "Plus we need the house extra clean because Katelyn's parents are coming over Sunday to meet us."

"Can Remmie come over Sunday?" asked Lils.

Ginny looked at Mr. Potter and they hemmed and hawed over the question for several moments before giving in. Lily smiled at her dad (knowing he was her hero) and gave me a quick squeeze goodbye. "See you in two days then!"

Katelyn wandered over to Lils as I turned to go and I heard her whisper, "Don't worry about tomorrow too much. We'll go over wedding stuff." Lils squealed in excitement.

My parents and I walked down the porch and apparated just beyond the invisible apparition barrier.

Lunch with Great-Grandma was nice (she was spunky, but still getting on in age, even in wizarding terms). After lunch my parents and I went to the Leaky Cauldron to drop my mom off to do paperwork and my dad and I headed into Diagon Alley. My dad spent some time in a jewelry shop getting my mom an anniversary present while I spent time at the triple W (Weasley's Wizard Wheezes) restocking my depleting collection of joke merchandise (I had used all my decoy detonators in the battle). Last we went to Quality Quidditch Supplies and I found some new Chaser gloves and a new practice Quaffle. I drooled appreciatively over the latest in the Nimbus line and found there was a new Shooting Star that was competitive with the latest sports brooms. However my dad wouldn't get me a new broom ("you got a new one last year. How much better can they possibly get in one year?" quoteth my father. Although he did have a point; the new brooms were only marginally better than mine).

And all of that only led into today: Sunday. I went through my usual pre-Lily drills (just getting ready for the day, eating breakfast, and repeating my 'you can't kiss Lily' mantra over and over). Walking up to the fireplace, I once again prepared myself for the nausea-inducing effect that was the floo network. Here we go.

I managed to fall flat on my face this time. The curious thing was that Lils had apparently been expecting me (there were pillows covering the floor so that my fall was very comfy indeed). When I looked up, it was to discover a smirking Lily spread out, almost sexily, on a cushion-less couch. She raised one eyebrow in a way I've been trying to achieve for years now. "Howdy cowboy," she said suavely.

I couldn't help myself, just the way she had positioned herself and the manner in which she was looking at me: it was testing my mantra, it really was. I wanted to go up there and snog that smirk right off that pretty little face. I could picture myself doing it in great detail (the picture self was considerably more graceful than the real self could ever have been). I would push myself up in one fluid movement and practically glide over the cushions laid out before me. I would sit down by her waist and, using a strength I didn't think I had, pull her up to me so that our eyes bore into each other. I would look at her lips and she would glance at mine, both wanting what was to come. Following Hitch's advice I would bring my face 90% of the way and dare her with a gaze to come the other ten. It would be perfect, effortless, passionate; everything I truly wanted our first kiss to actually be.

And there she sat, that eyebrow still sky high, daring me to do what my heart wanted but my mind did not. It was so irresistible, my little temptress. So irresistible, in fact, that I had to achieve what I had painted in my mind's eye. Without breaking eye contact, I pushed myself to my feet (trying my very hardest to be elegant about it). Continuing to stare into her black pupils, I took a step forward, forgot that I was walking on cushions and not floor, and fell promptly on my face again. As I lay there regaining my senses (now that the image seemed broken) I could have sworn I heard Lils swear softly to herself. I rolled over and tilted my head back to find that Lily had sat up and lost that super sexy look that she had somehow managed to achieve. I smiled at the girl I loved and managed to say "Howdy" back to her. I rolled back over and pushed myself up and clambered off the cushions and stood up on the side. Lils pushed herself off the couch also. "Does your mom know that you messed up the Living room anticipating my less than eloquent arrival?" I asked.

"It's nothing you, I, and Kari can't handle."

At the mention of her name, said house elf came skidding into the room. She took a look around and, spotting me, put her hands behind her back, opened her eyes wide, and practically cooed, "Hi Remus."

I blinked a couple of times (I don't know if it was just my imagination, but it seemed Kari was being flirty with me. She'd never acted this way around me before). "Ah, hi Kari," I said back tentatively.

Lily laughed out loud at the sight of my confusion. "Kari seems to be going through a flirty stage lately. She's been flirty with all guys, even James and Albus." Lils turned to Kari, "I'm telling you girl, you're not going to find any guys here that will pay you much attention. You just need to ask dad if he'll let you leave to find a nice elf boy that you can date. I'm sure he won't deny you anything 'cause of Aunt Hermione."

Kari looked kind of antsy, pointing one foot behind the other. Lily sighed, "Fine, I do know that it's fun to practice flirting with the guys here, but I'm not sure how far you'll get; dumb as bulls, the guys in my family. Not that it isn't possible to stun them. Just watch this."

I knew (I swear I did) what Lils was about to do. Or at least I had some clue what she was about to attempt. However I also knew I hadn't fully recovered from what she did to me earlier. I thought about just closing my eyes or turning my head away when she started flirting; it seemed like a good idea.

However, when Lils turned her head to me and focused her gaze strait into my eyes, all those thoughts crumbled. Lily started to little by little make her way towards me, wagging her hips back and forth as much as possible. And with her in those oh so short shorts and skin tight black spaghetti strap shirt baring the emblem of our favorite band (the Flaming Phoenixes). I couldn't help it (I swear to you on my life there was nothing I could do to look away). A bomb could have blown up the room next door, a tornado could have torn away the structure around me, the scariest clown on planet earth could have walked by and I still wouldn't have been able to tear my eyes from that little minx that was my entire life.

My irises didn't know what to focus on, whether too center on her swaying hips, the plunging V that framed what cleavage Lils could manage, or her steaming, enormous, black pupils. The time my eyes stayed focused on each part of her changed the closer she got: more close equated to a moving up of my eyes. This lasted for seconds, minutes, hours or maybe even whole days until she was standing right close to me and my traitorous pupils decided they wanted to steady themselves at Lils chest, even though I knew it would get me in trouble.

Lils ever so slowly lifted a finger to under my chin and brought my head up, away from her chest. "I'm up here, silly," she breathed. My eyes found the depths of hers and suddenly there was that dream I had had just minutes ago, only turned around. I couldn't breathe and I was getting lightheaded. If she didn't do something soon to break up the moment I was going to kiss her and there wasn't going to be anything that could stop me (not one thing). Yet still the milliseconds ticked by as if each was an hour. I was working up the nerve to kiss her and at the same time strengthening my resolve not to. It was an internal battle of epic proportions.

And then, just when my nerve was wiggling trough a hole in my resolve, Lily broke away and turned to Kari (who I had completely forgotten was there). "And that's how it's done," the love of my life said, but her voice betrayed her by breaking part of the way through.

I realized I still hadn't breathed and I sucked in some of that life renewing vapor. While Lily conveniently had her back turned I blinked several times and shook my head viciously to clear it. Why is it that she can do that to me so easily? Why can't I do something like that to her? I mean, come on!

"Remus." Lily had refocused on me and snapped her fingers, pointing at the pillows and cushions on the floor. "We have to get this cleaned up before my mother sees."

"It's a little too late for that Lillian," came Mrs. Potter's voice from the Den's doorway.

"Mommy!" My Lily jumped. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough," replied Mrs. Potter vaguely. Long enough? What does that mean? Did she see Lils' little performance? "Now get this cleaned up quickly. Katelyn's parents are going to be here in ten minutes and I want you two on the front porch by then."

Mrs. Potter stalked off somewhere else and Lily breathed a, "Holy shit."

"No kidding," I breathed back. "Did you think she saw?"

Lils regained her composure. "It doesn't matter," she said. "It was nothing but harmless flirting."

I nodded relieved, but couldn't quite shake the disappointment. I had wanted it to be so much more than _some harmless flirting_.

Lily sighed and got to work on cleaning up her mess. I jumped in after her, stealing occasional glances at her. After a couple of moments she spoke, "Why do you think that for living in such a large house, it seems so small that people always stumble in on others?"

I decided to field that as a rhetorical question and didn't answer; I just made a 'hmmm' sound and shrugged my shoulders a little as I positioned throw pillows on the loveseat.

Lils and I finished up and made our way out of the room and towards the front porch. At some point Kari must have vanished to some other place in the house because I didn't see her on the way out. I noticed that, once again, the blatant magical objects had been covered up or removed to keep from freaking out the muggles.

Once on the porch with the other members of my love's family (Mr. Potter, Mrs. Potter, and Albus) Ginny faced us and explained the situation and how the afternoon was going to go down. "Now, supposedly, Katelyn and James were going to explain the fact that we are wizards before coming over. I gave him a wizarding photo of the family as evidence. If we are lucky, they have taken the news well and we'll have an enjoyable time. However, we should be prepared for the worst and so I want you children to behave. And, on second thought, you behave too Harry. James is counting on us acting as normal as possible for his future in-laws." Mrs. Potter gave Lily and me an especially long glare of warning before turning towards the road and clasping her husband's hand.

As we stood there waiting I couldn't help thinking how eerily similar this was to a few weeks ago where we would be meeting James' new fiancé. The only major difference now was that there was no worry about having to tell the company that we were in fact wizards. And, of course, we now knew that Katelyn was probably the coolest, most awesome fiancé that James could have picked. In the short amount of time I had spent around her, I had found that she was fun loving, easy to laugh, easy to joke, and completely accepting of the abnormal. I don't think anything about the wizarding world would surprise her anymore. She even showed some early skill with a broom and a beater's bat.

I heard the roar of an engine and the gorgeous, shiny, new Porsche rolled onto the long gravel driveway. It was closely followed by a type of older sedan that I had seen on the road, but wasn't intimately familiar with.

Once parked side by side, two couples exited their cars. Katelyn and James walked to the front of the 911, clasped hands and turned to walk up the steps. Katelyn's parents took some time to examine the rather large house in front of them before focusing on the family (and me) waiting nervously on the porch. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Mr. and Mrs. Potter attempt to send friendly smiles in the direction of the two strangers. James and Katelyn walked up the stairs and Katelyn beckoned to her parents to follow.

Once situated beside his parents, James whispered something to them that I couldn't hear and Lily grabbed my hand out of the blue. The two newcomers walked up to the top of the porch and Mr. Potter took command, "Hello, my name is Harry Potter," he said shaking hands with both of Katelyn's parents. He then pointed out each of us in turn and declared our names. "This is my wife Ginny, my second son Albus, and the little rascals on the end are Lily and her ever present best friend Remus."

The two shook hands, smiled and nodded appropriately. Then Katelyn's father spoke up, "My name is Evan Wilson and this is my wife Samantha."

There was a short, awkward silence after that. When she deemed it had gone on too long Ginny stepped forward and took control. "I hear my son and your daughter have told you of our … er… differentness." She paused for a second to get nods from Evan and Samantha. "Ah, good. That makes things a little easier. We have attempted to remove as much magical items as possible to try not to overwhelm you. I'm sure it can be difficult to wrap your heads around at first." Mrs. Potter offered a reassuring smile.

Some more awkward silence followed in which Katelyn looked kind of nervous and embarrassed. Ginny again tried to make conversation, "So were you surprised to hear your daughter had gotten engaged? I remember the day that James sprung it on us. We were quite surprised. You see we didn't really even know he had been dating a girl outside of school."

Samantha took this chance to be noble and rescue Ginny from being the only one talking. "Katelyn had been going on about this boy she met during vacation last summer and how sweet he was and how funny he was in his letters. But it was still a big surprise when she walked in our door one day and shoved her hand in front of my eyes."

And that little bit of connection was all it took. We made our way inside for coffee and pastries and talk. Lily and I didn't talk much (to the others that is. We had plenty to say about my trip to Diagon Alley on Saturday). The afternoon wore on and the in-laws seemed to be getting along just fine. Evan and Samantha got introduced to the basic concepts of the wizarding world. Things like: owl post, the ministry of magic, Hogwarts, spells, and moving and talking pictures. They took it all pretty well. It maybe made them a tiny bit nervous, but I couldn't believe how well it went (I mean, aren't the in-laws supposed to hate each other?).

The Wilsons seemed to be impressed with the house and the sheer wealth of the Potters (even though I knew that they didn't actually live very extravagantly. I didn't know exactly how wealthy Lily's family was, but from what Lily has told me I gather they must be one of the wealthiest in Europe). Talk eventually turned to the wedding for the women and us guys tried to explain our respective sports to each other. Evan kept going on about the intricacies of football (soccer for those in the 'States). Mr. Potter knew some about football and tried to explain quidditch to Evan.

Eventually Kari, looking all dressed up, called that dinner was served (Mrs. Potter had apparently slaved over this meal all day. I do love her cooking. Second only to Grandma Weasley. Or that is, Lily's Grandma Weasley). I will say that the sight of Kari gave Mr. and Mrs. Wilson quite a fright. I don't think they had seen anything exactly like her.

After dessert it was time for Evan and Samantha to take their leave for the evening. The goodbyes were long and drawn out with many invitations to do things together. The Wilsons were especially pressing to have the Potters over to their own home in Kent. Apparently it was the courteous thing to do after the Potters had them come to their home.

"Well that went very well," said Mrs. Potter as Evan and Samantha drove off. "Your parents are very kind Katelyn."

"Thanks," said Katelyn. "I told them in no uncertain terms that they were to behave themselves."

"Well, still…"

"Shall we head in?" asked Mr. Potter. "Ginny I believe tonight would be a good night to have that family meeting."

Mrs. Potter looked anxiously at her husband and rubbed her stomach nervously. "Sure, why not?"

Albus, who had been rather quiet the whole evening, led the procession into the den. He grabbed his favorite La-Z-Boy chair and reclined back in it grumbling about family meetings. Lily pulled me over to the loveseat by the fire and started whispering to me in a hiss, "We'll have to check the animagus potion tomorrow. We're past the explosion stage now and that means it only gets more finicky. We also need to chop up those snake skins and carefully slice the gurdy-root up into even portions. I've been watching it and the book says that it should turn pure black after simmering on low for five days, stirring occasionally. It was dark grey early today, so tomorrow should be the day to take the next step."

"Snakes," I said sourly. "Why did it have to be snakes?"

"Oh stop your bellyaching. This was your idea, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah." I waved her off as Mr. Potter stood up to talk.

"Ummm. Right," he said looking sweaty. "Your mother and I wanted to talk to you guys … and Remus. I guess.

"Here's the thing," Mr. Potter continued. "Your mother and I… Ginny and I…"

"Well spit it out dad!" said an unusually grouchy Albus.

Mr. Potter glanced down at his wife on the couch for encouragement and I wondered what could possibly be wrong. Somebody didn't have a terminal illness did they? Or was somebody dead? Divorce crossed my mind for the briefest of seconds before I rejected that idea. I didn't know many people more in love than Mr. and Mrs. Potter.

Mr. Potter took a breath and seemed to gather himself fully. "Right, well here's the deal. Ginny and I are…"

There was a tremendous whoosh that drowned out his next word and Teddy Lupin materialized in the fireplace beside where Lils and I were sitting. He was smiling from ear to ear, his hair a shocking mixture of pink and blue. He stepped gracefully out of the fireplace oblivious to the nervous, somber, and expectant atmosphere he had appeared in. "Ah, good Teddy. It's probably best you be here to hear…"

But Mr. Potter got cut off once more by Teddy. "We're pregnant!" he yelled to the room at large with his arms raised joyfully.

Nobody in the room responded. We were all stunned; going from whatever Mr. Potter was about to say to this overtly joyous news. Teddy just got blank looks from all around. His smile wavered slightly and his hair dimmed some. But he regained himself to try again, "Victoire and I are Pregnant! We're going to have a baby!"

This time he got more of the reaction he was expecting. Lily squealed loudly in delight and sprung up to give Teddy a hug. James jumped up to slap Teddy on his back and give him a very James Potter congratulations speech of, "I always knew you had it in you! Others may have doubted, but not me. I always had faith and it's paid off."

Teddy released Lily and gave first James and then Albus, who had gotten out of his chair, big manly type hugs. Katelyn and Ginny also stepped forward to supply their hugs to the future father. Mr. Potter, on the other hand, had a completely opposite and surprising reaction. He fell onto the couch behind him and put his head in his hand and starting rubbing like he had a headache, occasionally running the hand through his hair. Ginny eventually turned around and noticed her husband. Teddy just looked antsy to hear what his Godfather had to say about his news.

Ginny went to her husband and whispered something in ear and gave his shoulder a quick squeeze. Mr. Potter seemed to regain himself and hitched a genuine, if not full, smile on his face. He walked up to his Godson, who's atrocious hair now made sense and gave him a huge hug with a pat on the back. "Welcome to the club son," he said. "It's prestigious and difficult, but so very worth it."

"Thanks Harry."

"Now you were going to say something dad?" said James.

"Ah," said Harry, the smile instantly faltering.

"Is it bad daddy?" asked Lils.

"No, actually it's very good news. The best in fact."

Mrs. Potter walked up to her husband and took his hand and, apparently, responsibility for delivering the news. She placed her other hand deliberately on her stomach and I realized what she was going to say half a second before she did. So, apparently, did Lily whose gasp I could hear. Mrs. Potter smiled and said, "Your father and I are pregnant!"

The reaction was again delayed and very mixed. Lily and Katelyn immediately went up to envelop Ginny in hugs (and from the sounds of it, they were all sniffling and getting teary eyed). Teddy recovered next, a second later and strode up to his Godfather and shook his hand and exchanged snarky remarks. James and Albus, however, looked stupefied. Katelyn brought James back by softly calling his name. It took James another couple of seconds for the information to warm up to him, but he got there and embraced his mom and dad. No one, on the other hand, was there to bring Albus back to life.

I took this chance to gather my courage and step before Mr. Potter to shake his hand. It felt weird, being treated like an equal and shaking his hand, but didn't take that long. Soon I was moving on to Ginny while Mr. Potter went to his second son. Mrs. Potter was telling everyone she was three and a half weeks along when I went in for a hug. James, being the compulsive and, frankly, repulsive person that he is had to make a comment, "So that means that three and a half weeks ago you and dad…?"

That was way too much for Lils who immediately covered her ears and yelled, "ewwwww."

Albus seemed to have overcome his petrifaction and was walking over to congratulate his mother. "So does anyone else in the family know yet?"

"No, we told you guys first," said Mr. Potter. "But I'm sure Grandma Weasley will be ecstatic."

"She might just keel over from excitement when we both tell her," commented Teddy. And then he brought up a point that was more serious and probably on everybody's mind, "Ginny, aren't you getting a little old to have a kid? Is it still safe for you, I mean?"

Mrs. Potter looked around and saw the rapt attentions. "I may not be as young as I once was, but I won't have you calling me old Teddy Lupin."

"Still," interjected Mr. Potter. "We've looked into it a little and wizards and witches do live longer than muggles, so we'll just watch it closely and the pregnancy should go just fine."

"Now," said Mrs. Potter. "Why don't you all go get some rest so we can get up early and start telling the whole family, how 'bout?"

Us kids grumbled our ascent and trudged our way towards and then up the stairs to our rooms (I was sleeping over in the guest room that had virtually become my own. Right across the hall from Lils). As we made our way down the hall to our respective bedrooms, Lils and I bumped shoulders playfully. Once we reached the end of the hallway our moods turned somber.

Lily and I stood in between our rooms staring at each other but off into space at the same time. Finally after a whole minute I spoke up, "I can't believe your mom is pregnant."

Lils grunted her agreement with this statement.

"It's been one crazy day," I tried again.

But once more I was only given a grunt in acknowledgement. I brought my eyes back from out in space to focus on the love of my life's face. "Lily," I whispered.

Her eyes came back to gaze into my own. "What?" she asked.

"Earlier, when I had just arrived; how did you manage that flirt thing you did?" I wasn't sure why I was asking that or why I was still whispering.

"I don't know exactly. I just did," Lils replied.

"Huh." I looked at Lily once more, in that skimpy, but beautiful outfit she had chosen for today. "Well I guess I'll go to bed. Night Lils," I said and turned around.

I walked to my door and rested my hand on the doorknob, but Lily softly called my name, "Remmie."

I turned around to face her and saw she looked anxious and unsure of herself. "Yes?" I questioned.

Lily wringed her hands and her eyes darted everywhere but me. "Um, Remmie?"

"Yes?" I replied again.

Like usual Lily quickly regained her composure and her usual demeanor. She stopped wringing her hands and placed them on her hips. She took a breath and held it for a second, reassuring herself. Very suddenly and forcefully she said, "Come here and finally kiss me, dammit!"

I stood mesmerized for a second until my eyes sought out hers to find that the black pupils had almost taken them over in desire. That was all the nudging I needed and before I knew it I had strode the three steps back to her, placed one hand on the small of her back, one hand behind her head, and, completely ignoring Hitch's 90/10 advice, I brought my lips to hers.

Lily didn't respond at first and I pulled back suddenly unsure. Our eyes met and we just stared at each other for half a second with me still holding her. Then, seemingly gathering her personality back up, Lily threw her arms around my neck, stood on her toes, and smashed her lips against mine. I pulled her tight in an embrace I knew I never would want to end and let events unravel.

**A/N:** Well that was interesting. However I've written myself to a point where I need your opinion. There are essentially three options as I see it. 1) I can end the story right here. OR 2) I can write just a couple more chapters to wrap up a couple of the loose ends, like the animagus thing. OR 3) I can continue to write for some time on some of the plot lines I have opened up like: the fact that there is some evil dude or group that has the Order spooked, Ginny's pregnancy, James' wedding. I can promise I can keep Remus' and Lily's relationship interesting in option three if you're worried about that tapering off. I would really like to continue, but if I'm not going to have the readers, I don't see the point. Other than that, please give me any and all input on both things you liked and things you didn't. Reviews are like your favorite color: you would love to see it everywhere (love to see them from everyone.) I am apparently running out of review similes : (


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